Crain's Chicago Business - 11/22/21 by crainschicago

NOTABLES: Meet these 98 Gen X leaders in accounting, consulting and law. PAGE 13

CRAIN’S LIST: A tally of the area’s biggest accounting firms. PAGE 12

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Northern Trust rediscovers its banking roots Traditional lending makes a comeback as Chicago’s biggest bank battles pressure on margins

PAUL GOYETTE

BY STEVE DANIELS

Ted Grady, who owns a catering business on the Near West Side, was told by his landlord that his property tax bill might double next year.

Small-business owners in the city brace for the Kaegi effect Entrepreneurs downtown are anticipating property tax sticker shock as the buildings they lease see assessed values skyrocket BY DANNY ECKER AS THE LONGTIME OWNER OF A CATERING COMPANY, Ted Grady had a fitting response when his landlord called him late last month to explain that their Near West Side building had been reassessed for almost three times its previous value, and that property taxes might be going way up. “I took a big gulp,” recalls Grady, whose kitchen and event venue has been located for the past four years in a revamped industrial building at 1639 W. Walnut St. Next year’s tax bill, he was told, might double from this year, a hike that would tack an extra $60,000 per year onto a few hundred thousand dollars of

“I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW HOW TO REACT, BECAUSE THE NUMBERS WERE SOMETHING THAT I JUST DON’T KNOW THAT WE COULD ABSORB.”

See TAX on Page 37

Ted Grady, catering firm owner

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Northern Trust wants to lend money. That may seem like an odd thing to write about Chicago’s largest locally headquartered bank, but the company for decades has focused primarily on managing money for institutions and wealthy individuals and treated traditional lending as an ancillary service for those clients. No longer. For the first time in years, Northern Trust is making more loans. It’s a deliberate strategy shift to actively pitch lending to business owners and wealthy households that already get investing services from Northern. “We’ve talked about going to

our existing clients and doing more of the existing loan types with them (and) explaining to them that we’ve got appetite to do more with them,” Chief Jason Tyler Financial Officer Jason Tyler said Oct. 20 on a conference call with analysts. “Our clients have been active, and we’ve told them we’re happy to participate with them more in those ways.” The results so far are eye-popping. Northern’s loan balances See NORTHERN on Page 9

Here’s the key to EV adoption in Illinois Why Pritzker’s plan won’t fly without tens of thousands of charging stations across the state BY JOHN PLETZ If Gov. J.B. Pritzker wants the number of electric cars on Illinois roads to soar to 1 million from 33,000 by 2030, he’ll have to assure drivers that tapped-out batteries won’t leave them stranded on a lonely stretch of highway. “How do we deal with the range anxiety so people know if they buy this car, if I want to go from

Rockford to Carbondale, I can get that done?” asks Christian Mitchell, Illinois’ deputy governor. The answer is charging stations, and lots of them, along Illinois roadways. Experts estimate tens of thousands will be needed to support widespread use of electric-powered vehicles in Illinois. That makes a robust charging See CHARGING on Page 39

YOUR VIEW

JOE CAHILL

Statehouse corruption fight requires a strong watchdog. PAGE 10

These local firms defy the corporate breakup craze. PAGE 4

11/19/21 4:44 PM

2 NOVEMBER 22, 2021 • CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS

This is becoming a rough-and-tumble race

ou wouldn’t think that a job that includes handing out driver’s licenses, maintaining voter records and serving as the state librarian would spark an allout, Chicago-style political scrum, packed with charges of nasty hijinks. But then you probably haven’t looked at the race for Illinois secretary of state. Since I last checked in on it a while ago, the contest to succeed the legendary Jesse White, who’s retiring after a quarter of a century in office, has become a brawl, featuring a former state official pulling out all the stops to get back into the electoral game, a rising Latina politician who’s trying to hold him off and two Chicago City Council members who hope to move up. And that’s just on the Democratic side in a year in which the GOP, with challenger Rep. Dan Brady waiting in the wings, has hopes of moving into a role that often in state history has been a launching pad to higher office.

The question for today: Is the likely front-runner in the race, former Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, going too far in flexing his wallet and trying to spark a bandwagon psychology to create the impression that his victory is inevitable? Or are the other Democrats, particularly Chicago City Clerk Anna Valencia, just throwing dirt in a desperate effort to slow him down? And, who’s behind some other shenanigans? Here’s what I hear. According to Valencia, the Giannoulias campaign has been “very aggressive,” falsely spreading word that she’s about to drop out of the contest, isn’t a real Latina and can’t speak Spanish. “Alexi’s campaign has tried to push me out of the race,” she declares. “It’s not going to happen. Are we going to put our bet on the past or on the future?” A second Democrat, Ald. Pat Dowell, 3rd, says she’s getting reports that someone is telling ward committeemen that, if they back

Giannoulias, they will get financial help running their ward organizations. “I don’t know for sure,” adds Dowell, but, “I wouldn’t be surprised” if it’s true. Meanwhile, one elected official who asked not to be named tells me Giannoulias personally implied he’d give financial help to groups that would support the official if he endorsed the former treasurer. Other officials I spoke with insist they’ve received no such blandishments. But the race to line up support before the Cook County Democratic Party slates candidates next month certainly is red hot. Though he’s seen nothing improper, “to say the Giannoulias folks are putting on an all-out push would be an understatement,” says veteran 47th Ward Democratic Committeeman Paul Rosenfeld, who has been regularly wooed, along with key members of his organization. Giannoulias, in a phone conversation, flatly denies that he’s

GREG HINZ ON POLITICS

doing anything except campaigning hard and trying to fend off opponents who’ve seen him line up key endorsements and raise more than $2.8 million this year—incidentally, almost all of it from small donors and unions, rather than his wealthy banking family. He termed the charges above “despicable, inaccurate and offensive.” Adds Giannoulias campaign chief Hanah Jubeh in an email, “As one of the few women—especially one of color—in Illinois who has run a statewide campaign, I find these comments insulting and hurtful. I’m proud of the campaign we are running and these personal attacks and falsehoods merely reflect the desperation of our detractors.”

For whatever it’s worth, the fourth candidate, Ald. David Moore, 17th, reports similar stunts but doesn’t point any fingers of blame. According to him, the stunts began when an official in East St. Louis told Moore he’d heard someone would be offering the alderman money to drop out. Then, in Chicago, an acquaintance flatly asked if he’d fold his race in exchange for funds to seek re-election as alderman. Finally, according to Moore, at least two celebrities he declined to name dropped out of his recent fundraiser at the last second, while a third celeb said he’d been advised not to attend. There sure is a lot of smoke here. But is there fire?

Representative democracy? Nope.

e’re supposed to live in a representative democracy, wherein we elect officials to make policy and act on our behalf. But every 10 years, the ruling political leaders act on their own behalf when they draw new boundaries for districts. This topic might seem dull, but it can affect whether and how you receive government services, how much you pay in taxes, the response you see to crime and the COVID-19 pandemic, schooling and every other public policy matter. It plays a strong role in whether we will have competitive choices when we vote for the next 10 years. So, now that remapping is wrapping up in Illinois, reviewing what happened with state House and Senate districts should be instructive. Hearings began in mid-March and there were more than 50 of them, but little was done by government officials to publicize them to people other than government nerds. The overwhelming majority of hearings were held when most people in Illinois were at work or school. Actual drafts of proposed maps weren’t released until the legislative session was nearing its end, and the final versions were quickly rushed through and approved in a matter of hours on party-line votes. Districts are required to be redrawn after each census to reflect population shifts, but that first set of maps wasn’t crafted using census population information because it was late. People from community groups pleaded with lawmakers to seek court permission to wait for the census data as other states’ lawmakers did, but they were ignored. Lawmakers plowed ahead and drew maps so as not to risk sharing power with the minority party or the people of Illinois. Those maps recently were declared unconstitutional by a threejudge federal panel. In its ruling, that judicial panel noted the litany of

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complaints about the lack of open, meaningful dialogue about district drawing. Lawmakers knew their maps built on population estimates wouldn’t hold up, so they approved a second set of maps in late August using actual population data. The version 2.0 maps were sped through the legislative process by new House Speaker Chris Welch and fairly new Senate President Don Harmon in six days, with even less meaningful public engagement. First-term Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who repeatedly had campaigned on a promise to reject partisan maps, quickly signed the state House and Senate maps into law, claiming they reflected Illinois’ diverse population. And yet, these maps are the subject of lawsuits by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the NAACP of East St. Louis, the Illinois State Conference of the NAACP and the United Congress of Community and Religious Organizations, as well as the Illinois Republican Party. These groups recently filed with the federal court panel proposed map revisions, along with their arguments suggesting the Illinois Democrats have violated the voting rights of Black and Latino Illinoisans by packing and cracking them into districts to dilute their voices and choices. The NAACP and UCCRO groups altered boundaries of three House districts in and around East St. Louis to keep Black communities of interest compact and give them the ability to influence the outcome of an election. MALDEF noted the Illinois Latino population grew by almost 310,000 people during the last decade, but Democrats created one fewer district each in the Illinois House and Senate where citizen voting-age Latinos comprise a population majority. There are eight Latino majority districts now, but the new maps contain only six such districts. The GOP plaintiffs offered revi-

sions that could boost the number of Latino majority House districts to 11 from four and the number of such Senate districts from to five from two. They drew a map with a Black majority in East St. Louis and created a Latino plurality district in Aurora. MALDEF’s proposed revisions focus on Latino districts in Chicago and create nine House districts with majority Latino citizen voting-age populations on the North and South sides and four such Senate districts. After lawmakers ignored their constituents this year, let’s hope the court will re-enfranchise communities of color, though that still won’t fix lawmakers working

MADELEINE DOUBEK ON GOVERNMENT

in the shadows to serve themselves instead of the people. The MALDEF brief refers to staff depositions to highlight the secrecy surrounding the drawing of our election districts, noting, “The map-drawing process occurred behind closed doors in a room that was electronically locked and accessible only with keycards held by a select few redistricting staff members and

elected officials.” Representative democracy? Nope. You’ve been locked out so your votes are locked in, right where the ruling party wants them. Crain’s contributor Madeleine Doubek is executive director of Change Illinois, a nonpartisan nonprofit that advocates for ethical and efficient government.

97% OF OUR CURRENT C U STO M E R S R A N K T H E I R S AT I S FAC T I O N W I T H U S A S “ E XC E L L E N T ” O R “A B O V E AV E R AG E .” B E Y O U R B A N K E R ’ S T O P P R I O R I T Y. W I N T R U ST.CO M / P R I O R I T Y

Banking products provided by Wintrust Financial Corp. banks. Source: 2021 Coalition Greenwich Market Tracking Program

11/19/21 4:06 PM

CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS • NOVEMBER 22, 2021 3

U of I seeks muscle for faculty talent war Without more funding, accomplished faculty are ‘vulnerable’ for poaching

WHAT’S DRIVING SALES

AT THE TWO HOTTEST HIGH-END CONDO TOWERS IN TOWN? Public records unearth sales details that the developers haven’t divulged

wo highly visible condo buildings, each an icon of its own style, have been delivering dozens of luxurious condos to buyers this year, but both have kept quiet about details of their results. Developers typically play a dual game of revealing some details and concealing others while they work to fill up a new condo project. Crain’s set out to find the details, to determine just how full these two noteworthy buildings are as of November, the latter days of a record-setting run-up in the housing market. Among the details we unearthed: Between them, the St. Regis and Tribune Tower buildings have so far delivered 188 condos priced at $1 million and up to buyers. That’s about 1.3 times the number of luxury-priced condos that have been sold in the past year in all other buildings in a swath of downtown from Oak Street to Roosevelt Road, and from Michigan Avenue east to the lake. See CONDO TOWERS on Page 39

Tribune Tower Residences

BY DENNIS RODKIN

PHOTOS BY SCOTT SHIGLEY

BY ELYSSA CHERNEY The University of Illinois evaded hiring freezes and layoffs that plagued other colleges during the pandemic, but the state’s largest higher education institution is grappling with a different workforce problem: Faculty recruitment hasn’t kept pace with record student enrollment. That means applicants trying to secure a spot in competitive majors like computer science or other STEM fields are rejected for lack of capacity, not Tim Killeen because of their qualifications. It could also cause the university’s flagship campus in Urbana-Champaign to slip in the rankings, which take into account student-to-faculty ratios. That campus is currently included in the country’s 50 best schools by U.S. News & World Report—a powerful marketing tool. Now, U of I leaders must convince lawmakers to help pay for the fixes. In a preliminary budget request for fiscal year 2023, administrators are seeking a 10% funding increase over last year, which would bring total state appropriations to $683.2 million. More than half of the requested $61.2 million increase—or $36.2 million—would be spent on faculty hiring and retention over the next five years. “That’s going to be our big push this year with the state,” U of I System President Tim Killeen said. See U OF I on Page 38

At this Elgin restaurant supplier, growth is on the menu

Despite the pandemic, ‘people still want to eat out,’ says the CEO of Middleby, a restaurant equipment maker that’s dealing with a mounting backlog of orders The great restaurant collapse of 2020 is now history. Anybody who doesn’t believe that only has to examine the long list of back orders for new commercial ovens and fryers at restaurant equipment maker Middleby. The Elgin-based company reported results for its September quarter this month and the numbers were bullish. Revenue jumped 29% to $817.5 million,

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driven by a 38% sales gain within its biggest division, commercial food service. Sales could potentially have come in much higher, but Middleby, like so many manufacturers these days, can’t get parts and components to finish equipment that is largely assembled around the U.S. Currently the company reports it’s sitting on a record backlog of $1.2 billion, triple the total of $400 million a year ago. Tim FitzGerald, Middleby’s

CEO, recalls that in the second quarter last year restaurant equipment orders nosedived by 65%. They’ve been in steady recovery ever since, to the point today that orders are currently running 30% above 2019 levels. “The pandemic froze everybody in the restaurant industry at the outset,” FitzGerald said. “But then orders started to come back pretty quickly. People still want See MIDDLEBY on Page 38

KEVIN BROWN

BY H. LEE MURPHY

Guests at the Middleby Innovation Kitchens near Dallas can watch their meals be prepared.

11/19/21 4:42 PM

4 NOVEMBER 22, 2021 • CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS

JOE CAHILL ON BUSINESS

Stephen Calk, former chairman and CEO of Federal Savings Bank.

Local companies buck the bust-up trend

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Regulators clamp down on Federal Savings Bank

BLOOMBERG

We know of at least one. Energy giant Exelon plans to split regulated utility operations from a nuclear power plant business that has weighed down corporate earnings for years. Lake Forest-based Tenneco is another candidate. The $15 billion-revenue auto-parts-maker planned to separate its powertrain business from units that make shock absorbers and other aftermarket products, but heavy debt put the deal on ice two years ago. With its stock down by two-thirds since 2018, Tenneco needs to make a move. “Tenneco may be able to eventually separate its businesses as leverage comes down further if industry volumes recover over the next couple years,” Deutsche Bank analyst Emmanuel Rosner wrote Nov. 9. In a recent SEC filing, Tenneco said, “We are continually evaluating our portfolio and a full range of strategic options to enhance shareholder value creation.” A case could be made for breaking up other local conglomerates. Caterpillar, for example, makes everything from backhoes to mining equipment, power turbines locomotives. Illinois Tool ‘CONGLOMERATE’ ISN’T ALWAYS and Works’ portfolio spans auto parts, construction tools, A DIRTY WORD. kitchen equipment, welding products, testing equipment, and evidence that single-business companies outperform diversified industrial polymers and fluids. If independent businesses really peers, in part because they can be do outperform, the various units of nimbler in deploying capital and these companies might do better other resources. alone. But no catalyst for such a Clearly, a diversified portfolio move has yet arisen. Illinois Tool alone doesn’t mean a company Works has delivered superior profit is ripe for a breakup. Conglommargins and above-average stock eration can work when there’s a market performance. And while benefit to keeping unrelated busiCaterpillar shares have underpernesses together, like a common formed recently and over the past technological base, or valuable decade, its outlook is improving. economies of scale in key funcIn a statement, ITW says, “We tions such as capital-raising. For earn the right to be diversified example, Boeing’s commercial through our performance, and airliner business and its defense every ITW business must perform unit both depend on aerospace significantly better as part of ITW technology. than they would outside of the With or without such a conneccompany.” tion, breakups generally require a Importantly, no activist investor catalyst of some kind. Poor operating performance or a lagging share is hectoring management at either price can be the trigger, often after company. That could change, prodding from an activist investor. depending on how the companies perform as the post-COVID-19 “If you’re delivering decent results, you don’t have the activists economy normalizes. ITW’s long-standing revenue growth showing up,” says professor Erik Gordon of the University of Michi- struggles could attract attention, and Cat’s exposure to fossil fuel gan’s Ross School of Business. markets might force a reckoning. A change in outlook at one or Leaders of diversified compamore divisions can also spur a nies shouldn’t wait for outside breakup as execs look to untether pressure to assess the value of faster-growing businesses from keeping all their businesses under slower corporate siblings. That’s one roof. Gordon notes that a busiwhy Kraft Foods in 2012 sepaness portfolio is ultimately a capirated its Kraft grocery lines from tal allocation decision, the primary its snacks business, which was responsibility of management and expected to grow faster. Given those parameters, do any directors: “This is a conversation local companies look like breakup the board should be having with the CEO on a regular basis.” material? lanned breakups of storied conglomerates General Electric and Johnson & Johnson would seem to consign 1970s corporate fashion to the resale shop of history. If so, some big Chicago companies still sport the strategic equivalent of leisure suits. Even after a wave of split-ups and spinoffs about 10 years ago, broadly diversified corporations tower over Chicago’s business landscape. In defiance of Wall Street’s oft-stated preference for highly focused portfolios, they still sell lots of unrelated products in different markets to a heterogeneous customer base. These aren’t obscure little companies overlooked in the craze for de-conglomerate-ization. They include massive multinationals with market capitalizations in the tens of billions, like Abbott Laboratories, Caterpillar and Deere. Local firms aren’t alone. A scan of the Fortune 500 confirms that diversification isn’t quite the dirty word that “conglomerate” has become. Behemoths such as Honeywell, 3M and Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway straddle multiple businesses. This despite

The Chicago-based mortgage lender is best known for former CEO Stephen Calk, who was convicted in July of making home loans to Donald Trump’s former campaign manager in an effort to win a high-level administration post BY STEVE DANIELS Federal Savings Bank, the Chicago-based mortgage lender whose founder was convicted this year of corruption in seeking a senior Trump administration post, is in a different kind of hot water. Federal banking regulators have found the company’s operations to be unsound and are requiring improvements in risk management, consumer protection and guarding against money laundering. The bank’s Oct. 29 written agreement with the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency was disclosed Nov. 18. The order requires Federal Savings Bank to establish a compliance committee of at least three members. A majority on the panel must not be employed by the bank. The enforcement action comes four months after former Chairman and CEO Stephen Calk was convicted by a federal jury in New York of engineering $16 million in home loans from the bank to former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort following Donald Trump’s 2016 election victory in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to win a high-level appointment within the Defense Department. Calk is scheduled to be sentenced in January. His conviction of financial institution bribery carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. The bank ultimately wrote off $12 million of that total. His brother John Calk now is chairman and CEO. Stephen Calk owned 66% of the shares in the bank’s holding company when he was forced to relinquish his leadership roles.

In an emailed statement, John Calk said, “As the Federal Savings Bank continues to experience significant business growth, we have been working closely with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to upgrade our policies and procedures. These enhancements have and will make the bank even stronger as we help our customers achieve the American dream of home ownership.” The written agreement doesn’t phrase the situation that way. “The Comptroller of the Currency . . . has found unsafe or unsound practices, including those relating to: (i) risk management; (ii) the Bank’s consumer compliance program and violations of law, rule, or regulation, including those relating to the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, and the Truth in Lending Act; and (iii) compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act.” The agreement requires the bank to beef up risk management practices, including ensuring that internal auditing is independent, fully staffed and reporting to the board or the special committee.

OTHER MEASURES

The bank also must improve its treatment of consumers, including ensuring that it monitors improper behavior of loan officers “to identify loan churning, loan flipping, and other forms of predatory lending and employee misconduct,” according to the agreement. It also must establish processes to identify violations of fair lending rules. And it must beef up capabilities to detect money laundering and other misuses of the bank by customers.

Federal Savings Bank isn’t a typical commercial or community bank. It’s strictly a mortgage lender and operates similarly to nonbank mortgage firms like Chicago’s Guaranteed Rate. It sells most of the loans it originates on the secondary market, and it specializes in mortgages backed by the Veterans Affairs Department and the Federal Housing Administration. Assets on its balance sheet totaled just $861 million as of Sept. 30, although it makes home loans throughout the country. Last year, it originated $11.8 billion in mortgages, according to the bank’s website. It markets itself as veteran-owned with a focus on home loans to veterans and military. The bank is an unusual cash cow as a result. It employs more than 1,700 throughout the country, with a few hundred in its Chicago headquarters. Net income over the first three quarters of 2021 was $45 million, well above what the typical bank with less than $1 billion in assets generates. The bank so far in 2021 has paid that exact amount—$45 million—in dividends to shareholders, according to its quarterly filing with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Stephen Calk remained 66% owner as of the end of 2020, according to a filing with the Federal Reserve. Assuming he still is, that would entitle him to $30 million of those dividends. John Calk owns 28.4% of the shares. The two combined held 95% ownership at the end of 2020. A spokeswoman didn’t respond when asked whether Stephen Calk is still majority owner.

11/19/21 4:08 PM

Helping thousands of Illinois job seekers learn new skills for in-demand jobs

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6 NOVEMBER 22, 2021 • CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS

Fulton Market lands Deere office, jobs BY DANNY ECKER The maker of John Deere tractors is expected to bring more than 150 jobs to Chicago as it beefs up its software development arm and has inked a new lease in the Fulton Market District to make room for them. Moline-based Deere recently leased more than 38,000 square feet at 800 W. Fulton Market, according to sources familiar with the deal, teeing up its first major office in downtown Chicago. The company’s specific hiring plans are unclear and a spokesman couldn’t be reached, but a source said that the new office

will house many software engineering roles as Deere looks to ramp up its GPS guidance technology and that the space could accommodate between 150 and 200 workers. Deere is said to be receiving incentives from the state and city tied to job-hiring for the new office, though the nature of the incentives was not immediately clear. The lease is a major victory for downtown and highlights the continued appeal of Chicago’s pool of young, tech-savvy workers, which has brought big companies to the city over the past decade amid a tight labor

COSTAR GROUP PHOTOS

The tractor maker has inked a lease for its first downtown Chicago office, where it aims to beef up its GPS guidance technology development team Deere will take more than 38,000 square feet at 800 W. Fulton Market. market. Deere’s deal comes a few weeks after Milwaukee Tool signed a big lease at the Old Post Office, where it is poised to house hundreds of engineering jobs.

MOMENTUM

Deere also piles onto the leasing momentum in Fulton Market, which has seen an outsize share of deal activity while things have been relatively sluggish elsewhere downtown.

Among the companies that have signed new office leases this year in the former meatpacking district are Kimberly-Clark, Tock, Hazel Technologies and MoLo Solutions. The Deere lease is particularly good news for New Yorkbased developer Thor Equities, which recently completed the 19-story building at 800 W. Fulton Market. Aspen Dental is the building’s largest tenant, and the Deere lease brings the prop-

erty to more than 70% leased. The Deere news comes after the company reached a new labor contract with union workers last week, ending the workers’ first strike since 1986. Stream Realty Partners leasing agents Jack McKinney Jr., Ben Cleveland and Mark Baby represented Thor in the Deere lease negotiations. CBRE’s David Mahoney represented Deere. CoStar News first reported the Deere lease.

Two hotels in River North go on the market The offering of Hilton Garden Inn Magnificent Mile and Embassy Suites Chicago Downtown will provide more insight into investor appetite for the hospitality sector A California hotel owner has put a pair of River North properties up for sale, an offering that will test how investors feel about the post-COVID prospects of Chicago’s pandemic-stung hospitality sector. Irvine, Calif.-based real estate investment trust Sunstone Hotel Investors has hired commercial real estate services firm Eastdil Secured to sell the Embassy Suites Chicago Downtown at 600 N. State St. and the Hilton Garden Inn Magnificent Mile at 10 E. Grand Ave., according to a flyer. There is no asking price listed for the properties, which are being marketed as a package, and placing a value on downtown hotels as the pandemic lingers has been difficult for many investors. Sources familiar with the listing said they expected bids to come in at more than $130 million for the hotels. But industry newsletter Real Estate Alert, which first reported the properties had hit the market, estimated the hotels could fetch $160 million. The response from prospective buyers will add more data to a slowly recovering downtown hotel market that was immediately crushed by the public

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health crisis and is laboring to regain business. Revenue per available room, a key performance metric that accounts for both room rate and occupancy, averaged $119.39 at downtown hotels that were open in September, according to hospitality data and analytics company STR. That was almost twice as much as the average at the beginning of summer and hit its highest mark for a single month since the start of the pandemic, but was still well below the $201 average in September 2019, STR data shows.

BIG BETS

Yet some buyers have made significant bets on continued recovery, likely giving owners like Sunstone good reason to test the market. Chicago-based Oxford Capital Group recently paid more than $72 million— just under $300,000 per room— for the 247-room Thompson Chicago hotel at 21 E. Bellevue Place. Two blocks south of that hotel, Toronto-based real estate firm FullG Capital paid a slightly higher price per room for the 178-room Talbott Hotel in the Gold Coast. Sunstone’s hotels are expected to trade for far less per room, given some renovation work that is needed at each, sources said. The

368-room Embassy Suites is said to be the more valuable of the two properties, with bids projected to come in close to $200,000 per room, or about $74 million, according to a source. Sunstone has owned the 11-story hotel since 2002. Sunstone paid nearly $92 million in 2012 for the 10-story Hilton Garden Inn, but the need for renovation work and the impact of the pandemic have driven down its value to what some investors estimated could be around $55 million. A Sunstone spokesman couldn’t be reached. The company also owns the Hyatt Centric Chicago Magnificent Mile in Streeterville. One hotel owner that will be watching the listings closely is another publicly traded hotel REIT, Bethesda, Md.-based Diamondrock Hospitality. Diamondrock CEO Mark Brugger told analysts during a Nov. 5 earnings call that its executives will likely “shrink our exposure” to the Chicago market, hinting that the group may be looking to shop “a Chicago asset” as part of its long-term strategy. Diamondrock owns the 311room Gwen hotel at 521 N. Rush St. and the 1,200-room Chicago Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile at 540 N. Michigan Ave.

The Embassy Suites at 600 N. State St.

COSTAR GROUP PHOTOS

BY DANNY ECKER

The Hilton Garden Inn at 10 E. Grand Ave.

11/19/21 4:13 PM

CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS • NOVEMBER 22, 2021 7

Chicago’s @properties goes global with Christie’s deal The fast-growing residential brokerage is in a deal to acquire the much larger Christie’s International Real Estate, a subsidiary of the art auction business BY DENNIS RODKIN Chicago-based @properties is buying Christie’s International Real Estate, which operates worldwide, the companies announced last week. The 21-year-old @properties has been growing fast, becoming Chicago’s top-selling brokerage in 2019 and launching a national franchise system in 2020. Before the Nov. 17 announcement, @properties had 75 offices in 13 states. Christie’s has 900 offices. Sales volume in 2020 was $16.4 billion at @properties. In a news

release announcing the sale to @properties, Christie’s is described as having $500 billion in sales over the past five years. “It’s really a dream come true, our biggest growth yet,” said Thad Wong, a principal of @properties. He and fellow principal Michael Golden founded the firm in 1999. The acquisition “effectively gives us a network not only in North America but in Europe and Asia to distribute the technology, the marketing and the coaching we’ve developed here,” Wong said. When @properties approaches firms “in New York and Beverly

Hills, they love the technology we’re offering, but they don’t know the @properties brand,” Wong said. “Now we can offer them the technology and a luxury brand that is recognized worldwide.” The Christie’s name will be used

outside Chicago, Wong said, but here in @properties’ hometown, the existing name will stay and Christie’s will be the additional name for luxury-level properties. Terms of the deal are not being disclosed, Wong said. The Christie’s name is coming to his firm under a 100-year lease, he said. Golden and Wong will remain at the helm of the firm, said Peter

“Change is inevitable. Growth is optional.” John Maxwell

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Condominium building arriving 3 years later, 1 story shorter The 14-story, 31-unit structure at LaSalle and Erie won’t have a previously planned 15th floor with a gym, community room and other amenities BY DENNIS RODKIN A River North condo building originally intended to start deliveries in late 2018 will instead start in early 2022, and without the topfloor amenities that were planned. In September 2017, when developer Sedgwick Properties broke ground at 142 W. Erie St., principal Marty Paris said the 31-unit building would be 15 stories high and begin delivering units in fall 2018. The first units will now be ready in the first few months of 2022, said both Paris and Cory Robertson, the Jameson Sotheby’s International Realty agent whose Corwin Partners Development Sales is representing the building. Paris declined to discuss the reason for the delay. Also, a 15th floor that was to have a gym, a community room with a kitchen and outdoor terraces is no longer part of the plan. The building is finishing with 14 stories. Robertson said city officials ultimately didn’t approve a 15-story project, only 14. With the 15th floor, Robertson said, “We’d have been offering a building with a lot of common areas, which sounded like a decent idea in 2017” before COVID, but “post-COVID, that’s the opposite of what people want.”

CANCELLATIONS

Eight units are under contract, Robertson said. Some of those are people who originally bought into the 15-story concept, but several other early buyers canceled their contracts in the intervening years, Robertson said. Robertson put four units on the market Nov. 15, ranging from

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Olesker, executive vice president of communications for @properties. In 2018 they sold a stake in @properties to private-equity firm Quad-C Management. The size of the stake was never specified publicly, but Wong said at the time that the infusion of funds would fuel growth. Christie’s International Real Estate is a subsidiary of art auction firm Christie’s, which dates to 1766.

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A rendering of the building planned at 142 W. Erie St. a 2,300-square-foot three-bedroom priced at $1.5 million to a 3,400-square-foot four-bedroom for $2.5 million. The condo prices are the same as 2017 at the bottom end, but higher at the top. The lowest price is $1.2 million, Robertson said, the same as announced in 2017, but the highest is $3.5 million, compared with $2.85 million previously. As originally announced, the units all have floor-to-ceiling windows, direct entry from the elevator into the condo and a terrace on the corner, with views on two sides. The building occupies the site where Erie-LaSalle Body Shop operated from 1934 until the family ownership sold the property to Paris’ firm in 2016. The business moved to a site on Huron Street in River West. Originally dubbed the Bentham, the building is now going only by its address, 142 W. Erie.

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11/19/21 4:15 PM

8 NOVEMBER 22, 2021 • CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS

West Loop landmark handed over to lender BY DANNY ECKER The owner of a landmark West Loop office building that saw its vacancy rising as the COVID-19 pandemic set in has handed the property over to its lender, adding to the tally of downtown office landlords succumbing to fallout from the crisis. A venture of Bryn Mawr, Pa.based Alliance HP last month transferred the leasehold interest in the 12-story building at 300 W. Adams St. to an entity managed by Morgan Stanley through a deedin-lieu of foreclosure, according to Cook County property records. The Morgan Stanley venture was a trustee for bondholders in a $25 million loan that the Alliance venture held on the building; the debt was packaged with other loans and sold off to commercial mortgagebacked securities investors. The move highlights the pain facing owners of downtown office buildings with significant blocks of vacancy while demand for workspace erodes. Office vacancy in the central business district reached a record high at the end of the third quarter, mostly driven up by a slowdown in new leasing and many companies cutting back on space as the rise of remote work pushes them to reconsider their office needs. That softening of the market has

caused immediate issues for buildings with lots of space to lease like 300 W. Adams St., which saw its vacancy rise to 23% last year from just 3% three years ago, according to Bloomberg data tied to the loan. The property’s net cash flow during the first nine months of 2020 was roughly even with Alliance’s debt service, loan data shows, and the leasehold interest in the building was appraised in March at $23 million, or only slightly higher than the $21.4 million balance on the loan, Bloomberg loan data shows. Alliance stopped making loan payments in December, according to the Bloomberg report.

TRADE-OFF

Now Alliance has opted to surrender the leasehold interest rather than face a foreclosure lawsuit, though a separate Alliance venture still owns the land beneath the building, records show. Alliance split the building from the land when it bought the property for $51 million in 2012 and inked a 99year ground lease between the two entities, a strategy it has deployed at other Chicago-area office properties that allows it to sell off the building while keeping a financial stake in the property. The ground lease started in September 2012 with an annual rent payment of just more than $1 million, which increases by 3%

each year until 2042, according to the loan report. After that, the rent is set at just under $2.5 million a year for the remainder of the lease term, the report said. An Alliance venture holds an $18 million loan on the ground beneath the building, property records show. An Alliance spokesman couldn’t be reached. The firm is an affiliate of Honolulu-based real estate firm Shidler Group, which is led by longtime real estate investor and First Industrial Realty Trust co-founder Jay Shidler. Alliance tried to cash out on its leasehold interest in the 254,000-square-foot building before the pandemic, hiring the Chicago office of Jones Lang LaSalle in November 2019—when demand for downtown offices was soaring—to sell it for what some investors estimated at the time would be close to $30 million. Alliance had sold off leasehold interests earlier that year in office buildings at 111 W. Washington St. and 200 S. Michigan Ave. The Adams building had fallen to 80% leased at the time after software company Dialogtech moved out of more than 40,000 square feet, and the property never traded. The terra cotta-clad, 93-year-old Gothic-Revival architecture building drew a spotlight as one of the first big creative office turnarounds

COSTAR GROUP

Distress from COVID-19 fallout is starting to pile up in the downtown office market

300 W. Adams St. by Chicago developer Sterling Bay, which bought it for about $23 million in 2007. That was several years before Sterling Bay had built its reputation for repositioning vintage office buildings downtown.

STRUGGLES

After spending some $13 million modernizing the building and winning landmark status from the city of Chicago for the property in 2009, Sterling Bay held onto it through the Great Financial Crisis before selling it to the Alliance venture in 2012. Alliance’s move comes in the wake of another investor handing over the keys to the

226,000-square-foot office building at 65 E. Wacker Place, where Irish real estate investment fund Wilton U.S. Commercial recently walked away after struggling to lease up vacant space and saw the building’s net cash flow fall well below its annual debt service. Such distress in the downtown office market has been gradual, since revenue at office buildings is typically tied to long-term leases. But higher-profile cases have popped up, most recently with the Civic Opera Building, whose owner was hit with a $195 million foreclosure suit in the biggest case of downtown office distress in years.

U of C’s chancellor quits Austin university board BY ELYSSA CHERNEY University of Chicago chancellor Robert Zimmer is distancing himself from the University of Austin, a newly announced institution that’s drawn scrutiny for its critiques of higher education and politicized nature, officials said last week. He’s the second mainstream academic and current university leader to clarify his position about the project following West Virginia University President Gordon Gee, who said he also doesn’t agree with all its virtues. Zimmer was initially listed as a member of the board of advisers of the new university, touted by backers as a corrective to what they see as increasing liberal bias on campuses, when the website first published on Nov. 8. Now he is no longer involved, a U of C spokesman confirmed. The Texas school is being established to combat “cancel culture” and promote intellectual diversity, say its founders, which include former New York Times opinion writer Bari Weiss and software firm Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale. The founders of UATX, as it’s known, also lamented, in a Substack post unveiling the in-

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stitution, that higher education is fundamentally broken and elite schools are failing students. “University of Chicago Chancellor Robert J. Zimmer was asked to serve in an advisory role (without fiduciary, oversight or management responsibilities) to the newly formed University of Austin by its founding president, Dr. Pano Kanelos,” the University of Chicago said in a statement. “Chancellor Zimmer informed Dr. Kanelos on Nov. 11 that he was resigning from the advisory board, noting that ‘the new university made a number of statements about higher education in general, largely quite critical, that diverged very significantly from my own views.’ The University of Chicago is committed to upholding the core value of free expression as articulated by our faculty and university leaders over many decades, most recently in the faculty committee Report of the Committee on Free Expression, now widely known as the Chicago Principles.”

‘POLARIZING’

Significant questions remain about whether UATX will get off the ground. It isn’t accredited, doesn’t offer degrees yet and lacks

a physical campus. Some have noted that UATX appears to be leaning into polarizing language, perhaps because of its need to fundraise, but offered fewer details about its mission to serve students and teaching style. Others have praised the university’s approach to confront the “cancel culture” they say alienates conservative viewpoints and stifles intellectual debate. Two other U of C faculty members, Geoffrey Stone and Dorian Abbot, are listed on the UATX website as advisers. Both have a history of delving into free speech issues. Stone, a constitutional law professor and expert, helped craft the Chicago Principles, which have been adopted by many other universities, but he has come under fire himself for using the N-word during his free speech class. Abbot, an associate professor in the Department of Geophysical Sciences, is also an emerging figure in the raging debate about free speech on college campuses. He’s faced backlash from his department and students for sharing his beliefs that university hiring and enrollment should be based on merit and not shaped by affirmative action. He garnered national attention after a prestigious lecture

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

University of Chicago’s Robert Zimmer is quitting the effort to launch an anti-‘cancel culture’ institution after critical statements made by new school

Robert Zimmer he was scheduled to give at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology about climate change was canceled following a student uproar about his stance. Abbot and Stone said they had not sought formal approval from U of C to help establish a university that could be considered a rival. “Perhaps I should have (sought permission), but it didn’t occur to me,” Stone said recently in an email. “I don’t see this as a potential competitor in any meaningful way.” Kanelos, former president of St. John’s University in Annapolis, Md., also has a local connection: He graduated from Northwestern

University with a bachelor’s degree in English. Zimmer’s rebuke of University of Austin went further than the public letter issued by Gee to the UWV campus. Gee said he will continue to assist in the project, even if he doesn’t agree with every point made by its founders. “Serving in an advisory capacity does not mean I believe or agree with everything that other advisers may share,” Gee said. “I do not agree other universities are no longer seeking the truth, nor do I feel that higher education is irreparably broken. I do not believe that to be the case at West Virginia University.”

11/19/21 4:16 PM

CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS • NOVEMBER 22, 2021 9

Northern Trust steps up lending amid profit squeeze in other business lines jumped 20% year over year as of Sept. 30 to more than $39 billion. That’s by far the highest loan total ever for Northern and comes at a time when commercial banks are struggling to generate loan growth in the low single digits. Demand is higher from “extremely high-net-worth” clients for loans to meet “liquidity needs,” Tyler said. Those loans to individuals—uber-wealthy families can and often do borrow against their assets to fund their lifestyles and avoid the taxes that come with selling assets—account for about half of Northern’s loan increase this year. The shift helps Northern tackle two challenges, one of them long-standing and the other new. Ultra-low interest rates pinch profits because Northern tends to invest tens of billions in excess customer deposits in low-yielding securities. And now, wage inflation is hitting Northern hard, as it is most companies and industries. Northern’s compensation costs are up 7% from a year ago, despite very little increase in headcount. In addition, profitability in Northern’s core business of holding assets and processing transactions for pension plans and other institutional investors has slipped in recent years. Fees for those services have fallen amid increasing

BACK IN BANKING

competition between the three banks dominating the business— Boston-based State Street and New York-based Bank of New York Mellon, along with Northern. “The (growth in the) custody business in the past meant there wasn’t the need to generate high-earning assets,” says Gerard Cassidy, analyst with RBC Capital Markets in Portland, Maine.

Northern Trust is making loans to clients like it hasn’t in decades as it searches for better yields on its investments. Northern Trust total loans $40 billion 35 JOHN R. BOEHM

NORTHERN from Page 1

LOAN GROWTH

Among the three big global banks catering to institutional investors, Northern and State Street have grown their loans the most over the past year—both at a 20% clip. BNY Mellon’s growth has been 16%. Northern’s lending is focused more on the U.S. than abroad. Just 7% of Northern’s loans are to borrowers outside the country. BNY Mellon has 19% of its loans to international borrowers, and State Street has 30%, according to Securities & Exchange Commission filings. But an aggressive lending campaign will plunge Northern into sharp-elbowed competition among banks vying for loan growth. Pressure to win business could lead to riskier lending, which in turn could trigger higher loan losses in a future economic downturn. So far, credit quality is holding up. Loans that are at least 60 days past due or no longer accruing interest

Northern Trust says demand for loans is higher from “its extremely high-net-worth” clients. made up just 0.5% of Northern’s total loans as of Sept. 30 versus 0.4% the year before. To the extent there are any cracks, they’re in Northern’s $4.3 billion commercial real estate portfolio, where 1.7% of loans were at least 60 days late compared with 0.4% the year before. To drive up income, Northern has two choices: make more loans or buy longer-term, fixed-income securities and take more risk on future interest-rate changes. “Loans are a good alternative to drive revenue growth without taking the interest-rate risk,” Cassidy says. So far, the strategy is paying off. Net interest income (the money Northern makes on loans and its own investments) rose 6% in the third quarter to $357 million from $337 million the year before.

That’s a sharp reversal of the trends Northern saw at the start of the year, when net interest income fell by double-digit percentages. It also nearly matched the 8% growth over that time in Northern’s institutional investment management and servicing fees. Its stock price has responded as well, rising more than 31% so far this year, in line with its peers. Northern’s new zeal to compete for commercial loans isn’t good news for other commercial banks, particularly in Chicago, where Northern’s brand is so strong and well known. Chicago’s many commercial banks in the past have found loan customers among business owners who did other business with Northern. That was particularly

$39.5 billion

25 20

2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

Note: Data is year-end except for 2021, which is as of Sept. 30. Source: SEC filings

true last year, when Northern was slower than many other banks to process Paycheck Protection Program loans the federal government backed when economic restrictions tied to the pandemic were at their peak. They won’t cede that business without a fight. Northern will have to compete on price and terms to win lending business from customers accustomed to seeking out alternatives. “They’re not going to pay another quarter point because it’s Northern,” Cassidy says.

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10 NOVEMBER 22, 2021 • CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS

EDITORIAL

One silver lining on Golden Arches’ PR mess praised Black franchisees in Chicago who’ve been working with local ministries, and discussed the company’s decision to move from the suburbs to Chicago and McDonald’s obligation to support change. At least one person who was in the room, former McDonald’s franchisee and ex-mayoral candidate Willie Wilson, said later that Kempczinski also did what was probably the most important thing to do in such a situation. He listened. And that’s the silver lining on this particular cloud. Kempczinski has acknowledged that his remarks reflected a worldview that is too narrow. He’ll be judged going forward on how well he applies these latest lessons to his leadership at McDonald’s, a $21 billion-plus global colossus that has the power—by the decisions it makes on everything from suppliers to management hires—to measurably tip the economic scales in this country toward racial equity. And Kempczinski’s South Side sojourn underscores another important point that every Chicago business leader can and should learn from: Crisis or no, it’s never a bad time to reach out to people who aren’t normally in your orbit to find out what they’re thinking, understand their needs and think of ways that your business can help meet them. But it will be important to go the extra mile and get beyond merely listening. Building stronger bridges to the Black and Brown communities that make up so much of McDonald’s customer base will also involve employing more people from these communities in positions of leadership, diversifying the supply chain to help build lasting wealth in these communities, engaging Black and Brown food industry entrepreneurs looking to get a leg up in the business, and using McDonald’s formidable public bullhorn to advocate for equity not just in its ad campaigns, but in its lobbying efforts. If this contretemps helps McDonald’s to become a more inclusive and responsive corporate citizen, then perhaps some good will have come from it all. ALAMY

hris Kempczinski really put his foot in it. That can be said with confidence because the McDonald’s CEO himself admitted as much, apologizing for remarks that local activists called “ignorant, racist and unacceptable.” As is widely known by now, those remarks became public knowledge a few weeks ago after a Freedom of Information Act request filed by an activist brought to light a text exchange Kempczinski had with Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot on April 19. Now, having one’s private messages revealed to the world is a nightmare scenario that no one, CEO or not, would care to live through. That said, when texting with a public official whose communications are subject to disclosure laws, it’s probably wise to assume that nothing one expresses is entirely private—a lesson Kempczinski learned the hard way. What got him in hot water were these lines, sent to the mayor in the wake of her visit to McDonald’s headquarters earlier that day: “p.s. tragic shootings Chris Kempczinski in last week, both at our restaurant yesterday and with Adam Toldeo [sic]. With both, the parents failed those kids which I know is something you can’t say. Even so, the outrage Kempczinski’s comments generEven harder to fix.” He was referring, sadly, to the shooting the previous day ated brought protesters to McDonald’s door as well as a of 7-year-old Jaslyn Adams, who was killed by a gunman union-funded blitz of TV ads seeking the CEO’s ouster. It while sitting in a car with her dad at a West Side McDonald’s also drew media mogul Byron Allen back to center-stage: drive-thru. The other child referenced—13-year-old Adam He’s currently suing McDonald’s alleging, in a $10 billion Toledo—was shot and killed by a Chicago police officer on court action, “a pattern of racial stereotyping” in its refusal to March 29. Placing the blame for the violent death of a child strike deals with his media properties. Now, he’s also calling on grieving parents, it turns out, is not a good look, and on McDonald’s board of directors to fire Kempczinski and to Kempczinski, leading as he does an assiduously image- fix what he terms McDonald’s “horrible, racist culture.” It was against this ugly backdrop that Kempczinski travconscious global brand that caters in particular to families with young children, seemed to grasp that he had a clean-up eled to a South Side church on Nov. 16 and met with 100 pastors and community leaders from around the state. A job on his hands. “I have not walked in the shoes of Adam’s or Jaslyn’s family Bloomberg report on the meeting noted that Kempczinski, and so many others who are facing a very different reality,” he who had previously issued a mea culpa for his statements, said in a letter to employees on Nov. 9. “Not taking the time to apologized again and talked about the role McDonald’s plays in communities, particularly Black and Brown ones. He also think about this from their viewpoint was wrong.”

to bribe Democratic public officials has led to numerous indictments—with more likely on the way. In addition to ComEd, we have seen indictments of numerous public officials in the state’s red-light camera traffic enforcement, in connection to illegal gambling machines, or because of tax evasion and lying to the federal government. A reasonable person would think that members of the General Assembly would want a strong legislative inspector general to regain public trust and send a clear signal that the old ways are done, that it really is a new day in Illinois. Unfortunately, the Illinois General Assembly continues to do business the same way it has always done, with no oversight, no checks and balances, and no true ethics reform. The Legislative Inspector General Search Committee did its due diligence and recommended two strong candidates for the position of legislative inspector general. Once again, instead of embracing change, Illinois Democrats refused to endorse either candidate, and Illinois faces the prospect of being without a legislative inspector general at a time when one is so

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, 150 N. Michigan Ave., 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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to the committee: Zach Farn May of this year, Democrats don, former U.S. attorney for pushed through legislation the Northern District of Illinois; that they will be touting as Bethany Biesenthal, former “ethics reform” through the next assistant U.S. attorney for the election. Unfortunately, this “reNorthern District, specializing form” stripped so much authorin human trafficking investigaity from the Office of the Legistions and prosecutions; highly lative Inspector General that the respected, retired Circuit Court current officeholder, Carol Pope, Judge Marcus Salone; and Jereannounced she would resign inmy Margolis, former director of stead of staying in such a power- Jim Durkin is Republican lead- the Illinois State Police and forless, disrespected office. mer assistant U.S. attorney. The Office of the Legislative er in the Illinois In nearly all government bodies Inspector General is a monu- House of Repreworldwide, this group of respectmentally important position sentatives. ed leaders in the legal community that investigates misconduct of members of the General Assembly and would be taken seriously. But in Illinois, the ensures proper oversight of that body. The most ethically challenged legislative body office is nonpartisan and can give govern- in the country, that was not the case. Democrats in the General Assembly ment employees, state contractors and members of the public their only avenue flat out rejected the recommended canof recourse against inappropriate behav- didates and refused to support anyone for the role. ior by elected officials. The Illinois General Assembly has so To fill the vacancy created by Democrats, the four caucuses made appoint- much corruption recently, it is fair to say ments to the Legislative Inspector General our state has been for sale to the highest Search Committee. Four outstanding and bidder for nearly a decade. The admitted well-respected lawyers were appointed corruption of ComEd and their attempts

desperately needed. The Democrats have done this before to keep the office vacant and ensure no oversight of their actions. The last time this happened, just a few short years ago, cases of misconduct went uninvestigated for years, and corruption was allowed to flourish. The Democrat-appointed chairperson of the Legislative Ethics Commission at that time was Sen. Terry Link, a Democrat from Lake County. At the same time that Sen. Link was actively preventing the vacancy in the office from being filled, he was also a cooperating federal witness who accepted a bribe from a sitting Democratic state representative in exchange for his support on a gaming bill. Sometimes you really have to be living through it to believe it. While the Democratic talking points will try to convince the public otherwise, they are just not willing or ready to change their ways. Turning their backs on reform and preventing two qualified candidates from becoming the next legislative inspector general brings to mind the old phrase from the Chicago Democratic Machine: They don’t want nobody that nobody sent.

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.

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CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS • NOVEMBER 22, 2021 11

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Public transit is ready to innovate, but challenges remain

oe Cahill identifies the core challenges and opportunities that face the essential infrastructure of our regional economy (“Public transit needs to build back better,” Nov. 12). He points out two “equally daunting” tasks for achieving Glasgow’s 1.5C climate goal: double transit ridership and find new ways to pay for transit by 2030. We at the Regional Transportation Authority agree with much that Cahill says, but we are working toward another deadline: 2025, when more than $3 billion in federal relief funding to sustain transit operations will begin to run out, despite the historic nature of the emergency relief and the infrastructure bill signed this week. The RTA has ensured that the CTA, Metra and Pace will

be stable until then because all federal emergency dollars have been allocated, buying us necessary time to both plan and act. The RTA has a responsibility to ensure our region’s public transit system is viable for the next generation. Cahill is correct: It is time to think creatively about funding and financing. The RTA is actively engaged in making a fiveyear strategic plan tied to a 10-year financial plan to serve as a guide to the regional transit system’s recovery. Our own data and independent surveys also show that he is correct that some of the system’s former riders will not come back soon. But there are also many in our region who never stopped riding. Those who continue to use the transit system can see how the CTA,

Metra and Pace have innovated throughout the pandemic to become safer, cleaner and less expensive. Employers should know that when the time comes for workers to return to the office in large numbers, your transit system is ready to carry them. And whether they use transit or not, everyone in metropolitan Chicago should understand that it is an irreplaceable piece of our regional mobility system and contributes to our region, both economically and environmentally, and enables opportunity in ways and at a scale nothing else can. Glasgow’s are critical goals, as are full economic recovery and social equity—all of which rely on a regional transit system that serves the needs of the people of our

entire region. We have been listening carefully to our riders, current and lapsed, and they have been telling the RTA board and staff about the kind of transit experience they want. We invite your readers to take a survey to add to the dialogue and visioning that will continue through 2022, culminating with a regional transit strategic plan that will serve as our blueprint for shaping and paying for the best regional transit system we can create together. KIRK DILLARD Chairman LEANNE REDDEN Executive director Regional Transportation Authority

CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS

Chief executive officer KC Crain Group publisher/executive editor Jim Kirk Associate publisher Kate Van Etten Editor Ann Dwyer

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12 NOVEMBER 22, 2021 • CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS

CRAIN’S LIST CHICAGO’S LARGEST ACCOUNTING FIRMS Ranked by local professional staff as of 6/30/21. Crain’s estimates are in gray.

Professional staff in the 7-county area as of 6/30/2021; % change from 2020

2020 firmwide revenue (millions); % change from 2019

Company

Local managing partner

Local CPAs

Auditing and accounting

Tax

Other

No. of firmwide professionals as of 6/30/2021

DELOITTE1 111 S. Wacker Drive, Chicago 60606 Deloitte.com

Kathy Scherer Central Region market leader, managing partner

5,149 9.8%

860

674

3,213

1,262

104,033

$23,157.0 5.7%

ERNST & YOUNG LLP 155 N. Wacker Drive, Chicago 60606 EY.com

Judson Snyder Chicago managing partner

4,177 2.3%

1,006

866

1,876

948

487

$15,820.02 5.5%

PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS LLP 1 N. Wacker Drive, Chicago 60606 PWC.com

Carina Markel Central Market managing partner, Chicago office leader

3,572e 1.2%

48,577e

$18,000.02 3.4%

KPMG LLP 200 E. Randolph St., Chicago 60601 KPMG.com

Linda Imonti Office managing principal

2,345 6.9%

448

466

1,417

607

291

$9,570.02 NA

RSM US LLP 30 S. Wacker Drive, Chicago 60606 RSMUS.com

John Bird Office managing partner

1,200 0.8%

570

430

400

370

10,500

$2,878.5 6.4%

CROWE LLP 225 W. Wacker Drive, Chicago 60606 Crowe.com

Stuart J. Miller Office managing partner

1,001 7.5%

254

204

520

220

4,709

$983.3 3.3%

BDO USA LLP 330 N. Wabash Ave., Chicago 60611 BDO.com

Darin Kempke, Assurance managing partner; Matthew Panzica, Tax office managing partner

787 11.5%

183

177

382

117

111

9,647

$1,808.0 10.2%

GRANT THORNTON LLP 171 N. Clark St., Chicago 60601 GrantThornton.com

Mark Sullivan Office managing principal

646 7.3%

231

176

269

175

$1,920.0 1.1%

PLANTE & MORAN PLLC 10 S. Riverside Plaza, Chicago 60606 PlanteMoran.com

Tom Kinder Office managing partner

618 13.6%

252

246

125

221

2,745

$811.3 8.6%

MILLER COOPER & CO. LTD. 1751 Lake Cook Road, Deerfield 60015 MillerCooper.com

Kristen L. Fitzpatrick Managing principal

421 7.7%

119

180

130

421

$101.1 35.7%

BAKER TILLY 205 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago 60601 BakerTilly.com

Thomas F. Walker Jr. Managing partner, Illinois

376 10.9%

111

115

205

4,600

$1,000.0 32.5%

FGMK LLC 2801 Lakeside Drive, Bannockburn 60015 FGMK.com

Mario J. Donato Managing partner

349 5.4%

160

154

122

349

$99.02 0.0%

WIPFLI 1 N. Wacker Drive, Chicago 60606 Wipfli.com

Gary Shutan Lower Great Lakes growth leader

323 14.1%

134

133

2,434

$402.0 14.6%

SIKICH LLP 200 W. Madison St., Chicago 60606 Sikich.com

Christopher L. Geier CEO, managing partner

280 5.7%

120

111

847

$184.2 10.0%

PKF MUELLER3 1707 N. Randall Road, Elgin 60123 PKFMueller.com

David J. Nissen President, CEO

225 13.1%

129

225

$32.4 13.3%

MARCUM LLP 500 W. Monroe St., Chicago 60661 MarcumLLP.com

Cary Buxbaum Regional managing partner

175 19.0%

110

2,500

$689.1 10.2%

LAUTERBACH & AMEN LLP 668 N. River Road, Naperville 60563 LauterbachAmen.com

Ronald J. Amen Partner

173 8.1%

$22.0 9.2%

CLIFTONLARSONALLEN LLP 1301 W. 22nd St., Oak Brook 60523 CLAConnect.com

Joseph Baez Managing principal

155 -11.4%

7,084

$1,192.8 4.1%

ORBA Mark A. Thomson 455 N. Cityfront Plaza Drive, Chicago 60611 Managing director ORBA.com

151 1.3%

151

$36.3 17.5%

LEGACY PROFESSIONALS LLP 4 Westbrook Corporate Center, Westchester 60154; LegacyCPAs.com

Timothy F. Cibulka Managing partner

150 -0.7%

138

150

NA NA

BKD LLP 1901 S. Meyers Road, Oakbrook Terrace 60181; BKD.com

Russell L. Romanelli Managing partner

150 -11.8%

3,030

$758.0 9.1%

COHNREZNICK LLP 200 S. Wacker Drive, Chicago 60606 CohnReznick.com

Jason Burian, Office managing partner, Chicago; George Klenovich, Regional managing partner, South/West

137 17.1%

2,834

$680.0 -1.7%

MOWERY & SCHOENFELD LLC 475 Half Day Road, Lincolnshire 60069 MSLLC.com

Jeffery L. Mowery Managing partner

123 16.0%

123

$23.7 15.6%

WARADY & DAVIS LLP 1717 Deerfield Road, Deerfield 60015 WaradyDavis.com

Richard Franklin, Mark Thomas, Robert Weismann Co-managing partners

119 0.8%

130

$21.3 6.3%

PORTE BROWN LLC 845 Oakton St., Elk Grove Village 60007 PorteBrown.com

Bruce G. Jones CEO

109 1.9%

110

$29.0 1.2%

2020 rank

Management advisory services

GET WORLDWIDE REVENUE, FIRMWIDE CPA FIGURES AND MORE FOR ALL 30 FIRMS. BECOME A DATA MEMBER: CHICAGOBUSINESS.COM/DATA-LISTS. List includes accounting firms with offices in Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will counties in Illinois and Lake County in Indiana. Firmwide employee and revenue figures exclude independent international member firms that do business under the same brand name. Professional staff refers to partners, associates and anyone working directly in the accounting area as full-time employees. NA: Not available. e. Crain’s estimate. 1. Includes subsidiaries of Deloitte LLP. 2. From Accounting Today. 3. Formerly known as Mueller & Co. LLP.

Researched by Sophie Rodgers (sophie.rodgers@crain.com)

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CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS • NOVEMBER 22, 2021 13

2021

GEN X LEADERS IN ACCOUNTING, CONSULTING AND LAW The nearly 100 members of this group of Gen X Notables are at the peak of their careers, managing offices, chairing legal groups or running their own lucrative practices. The attorneys run the range of specialties, from capital markets to affordable housing. There are M&A lawyers leading megadeals and those shepherding transactions to build affordable housing. Some are pioneering young practice areas such as cannabis or niche real estate areas like tech incubators. With the pandemic, these professionals quickly adapted to working virtually and navigated clients through new regulations and protocols. Labor and employ-

ment specialists counseled on modified work rules and labor shortages. With the reckoning on racial injustice, many led stepped-up initiatives on diversity and inclusion. These professionals are generous in providing time to pro bono cases, such as advising clients seeking help in immigration or gaining political asylum. Their civic work runs from serving on the boards of top cultural institutions to supporting anti-poverty organizations on the South and West sides. They are sure to continue their influence for many years. By Judith Crown and Lisa Bertagnoli

sdflaw.com

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METHODOLOGY: The honorees did not pay to be included. Their profiles were drawn from nomination materials. This list features only individuals for whom nominations were submitted and accepted after a review by our editorial team. To qualify for the list, nominees must be based in the Chicago area and be part of Generation X, born between 1965 and 1980. They must have shown the ability or power to effect change and have assumed a leadership position outside their organization.

The Future of Family Law Since 1981.

11/18/21 5:21 PM

14 NOVEMBER 22, 2021 • CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS

DAVID AGAY

DAVID M. ALT

BRANDON ANDERSON

SIDDESH BALE

Chicago managing member McDonald Hopkins

Partner BatesCarey

Partner Reed Smith

In addition to managing the Chicago office, David Agay is co-chair of the Business Restructuring Department and is on the firm’s board and executive committee. He’s been involved in the $15 billion bankruptcy case of satellite operator Intelsat where he represents a special board committee. Other cases have involved small- and mid-cap companies in energy, manufacturing, gaming, media and health care. Agay also is active in the firm’s diversity and inclusion efforts. He helps recruit candidates from diverse backgrounds and works to help them advance to leadership positions. Before joining McDonald Hopkins, Agay was a partner at Kirkland & Ellis. In pro bono work, he’s represented a political asylum applicant. He’s active in the Turnaround Management Association and as a board member arranging event speakers.

At BatesCarey, David M. Alt represents cases involving insurance, railroads, financial services, construction, professional liability, and premises and products liability. He defends insurers facing bad faith claims. Alt has litigated cases in more than 25 states and has been instrumental in the firm’s expansion. During the pandemic, he led the firm’s pivot to a remote ecosystem. He secured a significant win in the Circuit Court of Jefferson County in Kentucky, where a plaintiff sued its insurer for punitive damages and

Deputy Chicago office managing partner Latham & Watkins

attorneys’ fees on statutory bad faith claims. Alt is BatesCarey’s hiring partner and chair of the associate committee, overseeing the recruitment and development of the growing partner and associate ranks. He is a frequent speaker for the Claims & Litigation Management Alliance and several railroad associations.

As deputy office managing partner, Brandon Anderson helps lead the 215-lawyer Chicago office. As a partner in the Finance Department and banking practice, he represents financial institutions, corporate borrowers and private-equity funds on leveraged transactions. Recently, Anderson represented Antares Capital in a debt financing for the acquisition by Kohlberg & Co. of Ob Hospitalist Group, and NXT Capital in a senior credit facility for Audax Group’s refinancing of TPC Wire & Cable. Anderson also helped spearhead Latham’s Chicago Taskforce for the Commitment to Racial Justice & Equality, which provides pro bono support to organizations fighting racial injustice and promoting equality. He’s working pro bono on a case with the Chicago-area Legal Aid Society and Metropolitan Family Services to provide immigration law assistance to victims of domestic violence.

Siddesh Bale, who is deputy practice group leader of the Corporate Group, helped lead a combination of the firm’s tech and data practices. That created the firm’s largest practice group worldwide, positioning it to capture market share in cutting-edge industries. Bale recently expanded his cross-border experience with deals in Australia, the U.K., Asia, Israel and Commonwealth of Independent States. He also handles transactions in the health care field, including physician practice roll-ups and deals involving medical device companies. Bale is a member of the firm’s Diversity & Inclusion Group, and served as partner chair and in leadership roles on the Asian American Business Inclusion Group. Bale joined Reed Smith from Perkins Coie in 2012 and advanced to partner in 2015. He is on the governing board of the Chicago Committee on Minorities in Large Law Firms.

MARGARET BATTERSBY BLACK Managing partner Levin & Perconti

Margaret Battersby Black is managing partner of the 30-lawyer firm and manages a large case load of catastrophic injury and death cases. Battersby Black leads a team pursuing claims of wrongful death against nursing homes that failed to control COVID-19 outbreaks in their facilities through the use of personal protective equipment and other basic infection-control measures. She was lead trial attorney on a $7 million medical-malpractice verdict involving a veteran patient who exited a moving ambulance to his death. In 2019, she sat first chair for 20 of Illinois’ top settlements, according to Jury Verdict Reporter rankings. Battersby Black has hired and promoted women, and half of the firm’s attorneys are women. She was a founding member and the inaugural chair of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association’s Women’s Caucus.

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11/18/21 5:21 PM

#GenXThrowback Lauren Wolven

Jeffery Hoffenberg

David Solomon

Redefining the Generation Congratulations to our partners:

Lauren J. Wolven Trusts & Estates Jeffery D. Hoffenberg Real Estate David B. Solomon Corporate on being named Crain’s Notable Gen X Leaders in Law.

CRAIN’S NOTABLE LPlegal.com 2 North LaSalle Street, Suite 1300, Chicago, IL 60602 | 312.346.8380

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16 NOVEMBER 22, 2021 • CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS

LAURIE BAUER

MIKE BECHTEL

DEBBIE BERMAN

SARAH BERNSTEIN

TRACY BILLOWS

Founding Partner Cooley

Chief futurist and managing director Deloitte Consulting

Partner Jenner & Block

Partner Barack Ferrazzano Kirschbaum & Nagelberg

Partner Seyfarth Shaw

In May, Laurie Bauer and her founding partners launched the Chicago office of Cooley, a Palo Alto, Calif., firm known for expertise in technology and venture capital. Bauer focuses on representing emerging and growth-stage companies and their investors. She advises clients on venture-backed private financings. As co-head of the Chicago corporate group, Bauer has contributed to the growth of the office, which counts more than 35 lawyers. Its founding partnership is 60% women and/or racially diverse attorneys. She is on the board of 1871, the business incubator supporting technology and other area startups. She’s lectured on topics relating to venture financings at 1871, as well as the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law and University of Michigan Law School. Before joining Cooley, Bauer was a partner at Latham & Watkins.

As chief futurist, Mike Bechtel helps clients develop strategies to thrive in the face of discontinuity and disruption. He holds 12 U.S. patents. His Nascent & Experimental Technologies team, or NExT, approaches futurism as a practical strategic discipline. In April, Bechtel published a report in collaboration with the World Economic Forum, “Technology Futures 2021: Projecting the Possible, Navigating What’s Next.” In September, he surveyed 400 C-level business leaders to understand how established firms create their futures. Bechtel is on the Deloitte US Ethical Tech committee. He also is professor of corporate innovation at the University of Notre Dame. Before starting his current position in 2020, he was senior adviser to the Deloitte chief technology officer. Earlier, he co-founded and was managing director of venture capital firm Ringleader Ventures.

Partner Debbie Berman is cochair of Jenner & Block’s complex commercial litigation practice, trade secrets and restrictive covenants practice, and media and First Amendment practice. She assists clients in broken deals and business relationships, as well as defamation and First Amendment-related tort cases. Last year, Berman won a precedent-setting win for client Hetronic International, a manufacturer of radio remote controls, with a $113 million verdict. She is known for litigating the seminal case on the inevitable disclosure doctrine for trade secrets, PepsiCo v. Redmond. Berman is co-chair of the pro bono committee, helping the firm manage its $250 million commitment. She is one of 27 on the board of governors from North America for the Jewish Agency for Israel. She is on the Homewood-Flossmoor High School District board.

Creative thinkers.

Sarah Bernstein is a partner in the firm’s Corporate and Financial Institutions groups. She co-chairs the Motor Vehicle Group and leads its transactional practice, assisting manufacturers with vehicle and related product distribution. Bernstein founded and grew Barack’s transactional practice to a leading source for legal guidance on vehicle distribution matters. In a record year for dealership transactions, Bernstein counseled manufacturer clients through evaluation, closing and documentation. During the pandemic, she worked with manufac-

turers to qualify as franchisors with the Small Business Administration to allow their dealers to apply for Paycheck Protection Program loans. Bernstein is an immediate past president of the Public Interest Law Initiative board and is vice president of the North Lawndale Employment Network board.

In addition to her role as co-managing partner of Seyfarth’s Chicago office, Tracy Billows is special counsel to Seyfarth’s COVID-19 task force, where she advises the executive committee and office managing partners on pandemic challenges. Billows worked to create platforms and communication streams to answer client and internal questions. Previously, Billows was chair of Seyfarth’s Chicago Labor & Employment Group. In 2020, she worked with the Society for Human Resource Management to highlight workplace issues, preparing a five-page white paper on family leave program principles. Billows collaborates with Seyfarth’s Diversity & Inclusion team to further its mission and blunt the impact of the pandemic on diversity in the profession. She tightened the focus on retaining talent by starting an internal interview process to improve the associate experience.

Strategic advisors.

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Steven Blonder

Crain’s Notable Gen X Leaders in Accounting, Consulting & Law

Crain’s Notable Nonprofit Board Leaders

11/18/21 5:21 PM

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18 NOVEMBER 22, 2021 • CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS

CATHY BIRKELAND

STEVEN BLOCK

Chicago office managing partner Latham & Watkins

Partner Thompson Hine

At Latham & Watkins, Cathy Birkeland is a partner in the corporate practice, advising issuers, underwriters and investors on capital markets transactions. She’s Chicago office managing partner, the first woman to hold that role, and former global co-chair of the capital markets practice. Recently, she advised underwriters in connection with the IPO of Definitive Healthcare, a health care commercial intelligence company, and Hyatt on $2.3 billion of equity and debt financings to fund a portion of its pending acquisition of Apple Leisure Group. During the pandemic, she helped clients structure and execute transactions to raise capital necessary to sustain their businesses. She also leads Latham’s Chicago Taskforce for the Commitment to Racial Justice & Equality, which provides pro bono support to organizations fighting racial injustice and promoting equality.

Former federal prosecutor Steven Block focuses on white-collar criminal defense, internal investigations and government enforcement matters. He represents business people under investigation for offenses that include insider trading, securities fraud, public corruption and intellectual property crimes. He is a vice chair of the firm’s national litigation department. Earlier this year, Gov. J.B. Pritzker appointed Block to the Illinois Torture Inquiry & Relief Commission, which investigates claims of tortured confessions. As a prosecutor, Block led the government’s case against former House Speaker Dennis Hastert. Block was deputy chief in the U.S. attorney’s office and chief of the Special Prosecutions Bureau in the Cook County state’s attorney’s office. He joined Thompson Hine as a partner in 2018.

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MICHAEL F. BONAMARTE IV Partner Levin & Perconti

Michael F. Bonamarte IV is a managing partner and has been in leadership since 2014, when he was the youngest attorney at that time to make partner. Bonamarte’s trial practice involves catastrophic injury and wrongful death matters. Currently, he’s focused on more than a dozen wrongful death cases related to a COVID outbreak at the LaSalle Veterans’ Home during which 36 veterans died. He and his team are working on cases that test the “civil immunity” granted under Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s April 2020 emergency order. In 2020, he achieved an $8.1 million verdict in a failed cancer diagnosis and wrongful death case. He is on the Illinois State Bar Association Steering Committee on Racial Inequality, which is investigating disparities in health care across racial and ethnic groups.

NICK BRUNICK

MICHAEL CARRILLO

EDW

Partner Applegate & Thorne-Thomsen

Chicago office managing partner Barnes & Thornburg

Partn Riley

Nick Brunick represents developers who are creating affordable housing or bringing amenities, such as grocery stores and health centers, to communities that need them. He assists lenders in bringing capital to underserved communities. Brunick facilitated the creation of 100 new affordable homes in Logan Square, saved housing for the homeless in Humboldt Park and preserved 150 affordable homes in Pilsen. Brunick volunteers with United Power for Action & Justice, which is preparing to build 250 new affordable homes in North Lawndale, part of a larger campaign to build or rehabilitate homes on the South and West sides. Brunick is a vice president of the Illinois Housing Council and chair of its legislative committee. He is on the board of Business and Professional People for the Public Interest.

Besides managing the Chicago office, Michael Carrillo specializes in patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret matters, as well as patent and trademark protection. During the pandemic, the Chicago office grew by more than 10% in 2020 and is on pace to exceed 10% growth this year. Carrillo guides a team of lawyers and administrators to ensure that junior attorneys working remotely receive necessary training and mentoring. The office last year formed a committee to promote racial and social justice through pro bono efforts, community support and legal advice to businesses in minority communities. Carrillo is vice chair of the Hispanic Lawyers Scholarship Fund of Illinois, where he mentors law students and assists in fundraising to increase the number of Hispanic law students and attorneys in the state.

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CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS • NOVEMBER 22, 2021 19

EDWARD CASMERE

LINSEY COHEN

FRANCISCO CONNELL

KEVIN COYNE

JESSE CRIZ

Partner Riley Safer Holmes & Cancila

Chair, real estate practice Gould & Ratner

Principal Chuhak & Tecson

Partner DLA Piper

Trial lawyer Edward Casmere is a founding partner, heads practice teams, and is chair of the marketing and business development committee. He started the firm’s professional excellence and skills training, and heads associate training for litigation and negotiation skills. His training program provides insights and practical application of negotiation theory, negotiation styles and tactics. In the past 18 months, Casmere successfully prosecuted several commercial lease actions on behalf of a national transportation com-

With her more than 20 years of real estate deal-making experience, Linsey Cohen became chair of the real estate practice last year. In recent deals, she negotiated leases for a discount supermarket chain in its nationwide expansion. Cohen helped a leading drugstore retailer execute its store development plan. And she represented boutique coffee company Philz Coffee in its expansion, including its opening of four Chicago-area locations in 2019. Cohen is Gould & Ratner’s co-hiring partner and a member

pany related to force majeure COVID-19 pandemic claims. And he counseled an aviation supplier through negotiations on supply chain management that was disrupted by COVID. He’s on the American Bar Association’s Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section.

of the firm’s diversity committee, which is striving to create a more diverse workforce. She is a mentor for associates and partners, through her role as a lead member of Gould & Ratner Opportunities for Women, a program that supports women attorneys at the firm.

As leader of the banking practice group at Chuhak & Tecson, Francisco Connell oversees 24 transactional and litigation attorneys in Chicago and New York. Over the past 18 months, Connell shepherded a number of simultaneously acquired, national-brand franchise stores from different sellers for a firm client. In addition to servicing banking clients, Connell developed a diverse client base of small to midsize businesses and private-equity groups. Connell began his career as a Chicago Police Department officer and says his experience handling domestic calls on a daily basis taught him how to diffuse tense situations. He joined Chuhak & Tecson in 2009 as an associate in the banking group. He is legislative liaison and vice chair of the financial institutions committee for the Chicago Bar Association.

Kevin Coyne leads the firm’s 14-attorney real estate practice group and represents clients in food service, hospitality and national franchises. While the pandemic devastated retailers, restaurants and landlords, the real estate group’s revenue grew because of lease modifications needed because tenants couldn’t pay rent. Coyne joined Chuhak three years ago from Momkus where he was a partner. He served two terms on the Naperville City Council, and last year decided not to seek re-election after running unsuccessfully for the DuPage County Board. He also was on the DuPage County Stormwater Commission. Coyne recently founded Safe Suburbs USA, a political action organization that promotes public safety initiatives that support first responders and candidates for office. He speaks on career strategies at UIC Law, formerly John Marshall Law School.

At DLA Piper, Jesse Criz is head of the investment management and real estate capital markets practice and is also Chicago office co-managing partner. He’s trained as a tax attorney and has experience representing real estate investment trusts. Criz led a team that represented investment management firm Harrison Street in launching its closedend opportunity fund, targeting a capital raise of $2.5 million. He represented Equity Residential in an equity offering. Last year, Criz co-founded the Office Managing Partner Task Force comprising senior associates in the Chicago office. With a focus on diversity, the group meets monthly to discuss ideas and issues related to inclusivity and firm culture. Earlier this year, he co-founded the Chicago DLA Piper Alumni Board, an advisory board composed of former DLA attorneys that meets quarterly.

Congratulations to our partner LINSEY COHEN And all of Crain’s 2021 Notable Gen X Leaders in Accounting, Consulting and Law Complex World. Practical Solutions.®

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Member of LawExchange International

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20 NOVEMBER 22, 2021 • CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS

SETH DARMSTADTER

GINA DEBONI

NANCY DEPODESTA

SHELLY DEROUSSE

BARBARA DUNN

CHR

Chicago office managing partner Michelman & Robinson

Managing partner Romanucci & Blandin

Partner Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr

Partner Freeborn & Peters

Partner Barnes & Thornburg

Chica McG

Seth Darmstadter is managing partner of Michelman & Robinson’s Chicago office and is a member of the firm’s advertising & digital media industry group. He represents clients in health technology, ad and media technology, and integrated marketing. Darmstadter was an early adopter of remote litigation technology and took his first dozen online depositions over Zoom. He was one of the first attorneys to first-chair a multiweek Zoom trial in his basement, which was converted into a virtual courtroom. Recently, he represented a solar

In addition to managing the office, Gina DeBoni advocates for the firm’s clients who have suffered from traumatic personal injury, police misconduct, hazing, sex trafficking and other devastating events. DeBoni mobilized legal resources in the Sterigenics case when it was learned the Willowbrook-based company had emitted a carcinogenic chemical for decades. She has met with the acting EPA administrator about regulating the toxic chemical, ethylene oxide. She advocates on behalf of a mother of a sex trafficking victim who was murdered in Chicago. DeBoni’s client testified before a U.S. Senate committee, and they attended a White House ceremony when reforms were signed into law prohibiting online advertisement of children for sex. She was elected to the Village of Glenview board of trustees earlier this year.

Former federal prosecutor Nancy DePodesta co-chairs the White Collar & Government Enforcement Group and is a leader of the firm’s women’s development initiative. She’s counseled clients on pandemicrelated compliance and risk management as government enforcement around potential PPP loan and CARES Act fraud has increased. DePodesta represented AB Specialty Silicones following a 2019 deadly explosion at a chemical plant in Waukegan and counseled executives through government investigations. She was a partner with Arnstein & Lehr from 2015 to 2017, when the firm merged with Saul Ewing. Before entering private practice, she was an assistant U.S. attorney. Last year, DePodesta was appointed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker to the Concealed Carry Licensing Review Board, which reviews law enforcement objections to an applicant’s eligibility to obtain a firearm license.

Restructuring industry expert Shelly DeRousse is practice group leader of the bankruptcy & financial restructuring practice group. She’s lead counsel for the Official Committee of Equity Security Holders of Greenpoint Tactical Income Fund, a $50 million income fund in Milwaukee. As counsel for the trustee in possession, she is handling the restructuring of the Ford City Condominium Association, which has seven buildings and more than 300 units in Chicago. This year, she spoke at the annual conference of the Na-

Barbara Dunn is co-chair of the firm’s Associations & Foundations Practice Group, advising nonprofits on laws that impact tax-exempt organizations. She is a specialist in the hospitality industry and assists groups with meeting and trade show contracts. During the pandemic, Dunn assisted clients in resolving hotel and convention center cancellations, saving them millions in fees and helping them preserve their relationships with those same hotels and convention centers. She worked with nonprofits to update their policies for virtual meetings and online voting. In 2018, Dunn established a women’s forum to support female-identifying attorneys at the firm. Having lost her first husband to a brain tumor, Dunn supports brain tumor patients and their caregivers and has helped manage local fundraisers for the American Brain Tumor Association.

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power developer working in South Africa. He was Outcome Health’s general counsel after fraud allegations threatened to derail the company. Darmstadter has sat on the executive advisory board of Techweek and on the advisory board for Mexican technology firm Pounce Consulting.

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tional Association of Bankruptcy Trustees in Chicago and two other bankruptcy conferences in the Midwest. Last year, she was one of three national co-chairs of the Turnaround Management Association’s national conference and also moderated a panel. She was selected to co-chair TMA’s Education Committee for 2022.

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CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS • NOVEMBER 22, 2021 21

CHRISTINA EGAN

KATHELEEN EHRHART

ANGELA ELBERT

BRIAN FAHRNEY

JESSICA FAIRCHILD

Chicago office managing partner McGuireWoods

Partner Freeborn & Peters

Partner Neal Gerber Eisenberg

Partner Sidley Austin

Founding partner Croke Fairchild Morgan & Beres

Former federal prosecutor Christina Egan manages the Chicago office and is a member of the firm’s board of partners. She represents companies and individuals in criminal and civil investigations. Egan played a pivotal role securing the March 2019 dismissal of criminal charges against former U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock of Illinois on his alleged misuse of campaign and government funds. Before joining McGuireWoods in 2012, Egan was an assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois for 10 years. She tried more than 20 cases involving racketeering, public corruption, fraud, narcotics trafficking and gang activity. Egan is on the Seventh Circuit Pattern Jury Instruction Committee, which updates criminal pattern jury instructions. She’s a member of McGuireWoods’ Women Lawyers Network, which helps women lawyers navigate work-life balance.

At Freeborn & Peters, Katheleen Ehrhart is a partner in the litigation practice group and co-leader of the insurance brokerage group. In 2020, just after the courts reopened, she represented her client in the first remote trial proceeding for the Cook County Law Division. She successfully defended a managing general agent in an $80 million damages claim brought by an insurance carrier in a multiweek Zoom arbitration. In another case, she obtained a temporary injunction and $20 million settlement for an insurance intermediary

Angela Elbert is chair of the firm’s insurance policyholder practice group and a member of the executive committee. She’s written extensively about the challenges policyholders face litigating COVID-19 business interruption cases with their insurance providers. Elbert represents McDonald’s in connection with a lawsuit it brought against its insurer in Illinois federal court. For the past three years, Elbert has been regional director of Illinois for the Judicial Intern Opportunity Program, which helps provide judicial externships for law students

client in a restrictive covenant violation lawsuit. Ehrhart joined Freeborn in 2012 from Kirkland & Ellis, where she was a partner. She co-leads the firm’s Women’s Leadership Council. And she’s been speaking at conferences on the role of virtual proceedings and other insurance topics.

from underrepresented groups and low-income families. She represented pro bono individuals seeking stem cell treatment for cancer, which was denied by their health insurance provider because the provider designated the treatment as experimental.

At Sidley Austin, Brian Fahrney is a global co-leader of the M&A and private-equity group and a member of the management and executive committees. Recently, he represented Arthur J. Gallagher in its proposed $3.25 billion acquisition of Willis Towers Watson reinsurance operations, Willis Re. Fahrney advised Riot Blockchain in its $651 million acquisition of Whinstone US and Mastercard in its $825 million acquisition of Finicity, a provider of real-time access to financial data and insights. Earlier, Fahrney represented Cabela’s in its sale to Bass Pro Shops for $5.5 billion and GE in the sale of its appliances business to Haier for $5.4 billion. Fahrney is on the executive committee of the Ray Garrett Jr. Corporate & Securities Law Institute of the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law.

A founding partner and member of the management committee, Jessica Fairchild co-leads the transactional practice, advising companies, private-equity and venture-capital firms, startups and family offices. This year, Fairchild assembled and led the all-women deal team that advised Chicago-based health care startup Odeza on its multimillion-dollar acquisition by Ensemble Health Partners. The firm has quadrupled since its start in December 2019, and Fairchild added 17 attorneys to the transactional team, including 10 women. In 2007, Fairchild was tapped as general counsel for Chicago 2016, the organization that led Chicago’s bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games. She went on to launch her own firm in 2010. She is on the board of the Gorton Community Center, a cultural hub in her hometown of Lake Forest.

MENTOR.

LEADER.

ADVOCATE.

We celebrate our partners and executive committee members, Robert Gerber, Angela Elbert and William Tarnow, on their well-deserved recognition in Crain’s 2021 Notable Gen X Leaders in Law. Their steadfast leadership at Neal Gerber Eisenberg and within the community has advanced our commitment to excellence in client service, further developed our core values of collaboration and inclusion, and led the way for others to follow these exceptional role models. We are proud to be led by a group of entrepreneurial and independent-minded GenX leaders.

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22 NOVEMBER 22, 2021 • CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS

ZACHARY FARDON

BRADLEY FARIS

ADAM FAYNE

LINDA FINE

PAMELA GAMBLE

JAS

Chicago office managing partner King & Spalding

Partner, mergers and acquisitions practice Latham & Watkins

Partner Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr

Co-founder Buckley Fine

Partner Manning Gross + Massenburg

Exec River

Adam Fayne is co-founder and co-chair of the firm’s cannabis practice and a vice chair of the Transactional Department. The firm represented Canaccord Genuity as lead underwriter in two public offerings, including the first U.S. direct public listing of Ascend Wellness, which raised $80 million and has a market value greater than $1 billion. He serves as counsel to TerrAscend, a leading North American cannabis operator, and its Arise Bioscience subsidiary. And he’s counseled cannabis operator and retailer 4Front Ventures in its prospectus offering. Fayne began serving cannabis industry clients in 2015 and the practice has grown to 30 attorneys. He joined Saul Ewing in 2006 from the Department of Treasury, where he was special assistant U.S. attorney, representing the Internal Revenue Service.

At Buckley Fine in Barrington, co-founder Linda Fine is managing partner and chair of the estate planning practice group. Last year, she co-founded the firm, which has grown to 13 attorneys. Fine administers estates and trusts and prepares estate and gift tax filings. Her work has included succession planning for an $80 million business, administering a $40 million estate with 15 trusts, and facilitating a client’s $100 million charitable endowment. Before starting her current firm, Fine was an equity member at Kelleher & Buckley, which she helped grow from a single office with eight attorneys to a 25-attorney firm with three Illinois locations. Fine is a member of the DuPage County Estate Planning Council and the WealthCounsel Illinois Forum. She speaks frequently on estate planning.

Partner Pamela Gamble focuses on business litigation, including toxic torts, personal injury, product liability and commercial disputes. She’s one of the firm’s lead docket attorneys and attends Cook County trial and motion calls. Gamble is on the firm’s DEI Committee and Women’s Forum. During the pandemic, Gamble recognized that staff would need mental health support and phoned associates. Because of her care, the firm gave Gamble hiring responsibilities. Gamble joined Manning Gross + Massenburg in 2019 from HeplerBroom where she was a partner. Earlier, she was an assistant state’s attorney in Madison County, where she was head prosecutor of the domestic violence unit, order protection court and juvenile division. She is on the National Forum for Environmental and Toxic Tort Issues conference committee and helps plan the event annually.

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Former U.S. Attorney Zachary Fardon leads the government matters practice group and is on the policy committee. He established King & Spalding’s Chicago office in 2017 and has grown the office to 45 lawyers. Most recently, Fardon counseled clients through recent mass shootings. He’s been at the forefront of multistate state attorney general investigations and litigation related to several data breaches. Following the George Floyd murder, Fardon established a Diversity & Equal Justice committee in the Chicago office as well as a D&I committee for the firmwide government matters practice. As U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Fardon handled the prosecution of former Illinois Gov. George Ryan and the red-light camera corruption trial. He’s an adjunct professor at Northwestern’s Pritzker School of Law.

Bradley Faris focuses on M&A, with a particular interest in friendly and unsolicited tender offers and proxy contests, takeover defense counseling and advising independent directors in conflict-of-interest transactions. He previously served as global co-chair of the M&A practice and chair of the Chicago Corporate Department. Faris has represented Aon in its attempted merger with Willis Towers Watson and the divestiture of its retiree health exchange business. He advised GTCR portfolio company Vivid Seats on its strategy to become a publicly listed company. During his tenure as co-chair of the M&A practice, Faris established a team that uses artificial intelligence and other technologies to support M&A transactions. He serves on the steering committee of the Ray Garrett Jr. Corporate & Securities Law Institute at Northwestern’s Pritzker School of Law.

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CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS • NOVEMBER 22, 2021 23

JASON GANDY

GARY GASSMAN

Executive managing director Riveron

Member Cozen O’Connor

Jason Gandy leads Riveron’s Chicago office, which represents a major hub as the second-largest office of the Dallas-based business advisory firm. He leads a 75-person team. Gandy joined Riveron in 2019 after a career of more than 20 years at Accenture, where he was most recently managing director, banking and capital markets. Riveron was founded in 2006 and has expanded to eight markets. Riveron’s client revenue in the Chicago market has grown in the last 18 months. Gandy manages a market with a portfolio of more than 200 clients and this year has expanded the firm’s client portfolio with 30 new local clients. This year, he helped attract and onboard 40 new team members. Gandy is on the steering committee of the CFO Leadership Council.

At Cozen O’Connor, Gary Gassman is co-chair of the firm’s professional liability practice group, concentrating on insurance coverage counseling and litigation. He also leads the LGBTQ attorney resource group and is on the diversity committee. Gassman handles cases involving directors’ and officers’ liability and employment practices liability. Recently, he represented an insurer in a wrongful death action against a property management company worth over $30 million. And he recently negotiated a six-figure settlement for an insurer in the coverage dispute component of a class action. Gassman

was named ABA Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section chairelect and will become chair in 2022-23. This past year, Gassman also spent considerable pro bono effort helping transgender people with legal name changes.

ROBERT “BOBBY” GERBER

TIA GHATTAS

JEREMY GLENN

Member Cozen O’Connor

Chicago office managing partner Cozen O’Connor

In June, Robert “Bobby” Gerber was named the third managing partner in the firm’s 35-year history. He’s a member of the executive committee and a partner in the corporate & securities practice group. Gerber began his career at NGE as a summer associate 24 years ago and is the first managing partner to rise through the associate ranks. As a member of the executive committee, Gerber helped steer the firm through the pandemic and led the development of the firm’s flexible return-to-work guidelines. Gerber leads efforts to hire, retain and advance under-represented groups

Tia Ghattas is co-chair of the transportation and logistics litigation industry team, representing clients across the product supply chain. She’s tried more than 30 trials to verdict and is a skilled mediator. In one of her most recent mediations, Ghattas not only negotiated a favorable settlement for her client with several million dollars at stake, but also obtained indemnification for her client and recovery of defense costs. Ghattas is a member of the firm’s Women’s Initiative steering committee and the new business committee. She’s represented pro bono clients in transgender rights and personal-identity matters.

In addition to managing the Chicago office, Jeremy Glenn is a member of the management committee and the national labor & employment practice. He oversees more than 50 attorneys. Glenn recently led a collective-bargaining negotiation for a Chicago building-owners multiemployer association, reaching agreements with a large engineering union. As part of the firm’s coronavirus task force, Glenn helped clients navigate pandemic-related issues and develop policies to guide employers. Under Glenn’s leadership, colleagues participated in a 21-day racial equity

among its attorney ranks, resulting in NGE obtaining Mansfield Rule 4.0 certification this year, its third year of participation in the program. Gerber is a member of the Chicago Legal Aid Clinic development committee.

Last year, she published prescriptive pieces on how the trucking industry should respond to policy and regulatory changes. A former Division II college basketball player, she coaches basketball for Chicago Public Schools.

reading curriculum following the social justice reckoning of 2020. He chairs the board of the Olive Branch Mission, the oldest continuously operating emergency and transitional housing shelter in Chicago.

Managing partner Neal Gerber Eisenberg

Congratulations to our colleagues Gary Gassman, Tia Ghattas, and Jeremy Glenn on being named Crain’s 2021 Notable Gen X Leaders in Law.

Michael J. Heller Executive Chairman & CEO (215) 665-4141 mheller@cozen.com

Vincent R. McGuinness President & Managing Partner (215) 665-2097 vmcguinness@cozen.com 775 attorneys | 31 offices

cozen.com

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24 NOVEMBER 22, 2021 • CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS

ANDREW S. GOLDBERG

BARBARA GRAYSON

ERIC GREENFIELD

ROBERT HAYWARD

LAURA HOEY

JEF

Managing partner Laner Muchin

Partner Willkie Farr & Gallagher

Shareholder Polsinelli

Partner Kirkland & Ellis

Litigation and enforcement partner Ropes & Gray

Partn Leve

A partner for 19 years, Andrew S. Goldberg stepped up to the managing partner role in May. He specializes in negotiating collective bargaining agreements, representing clients in arbitrations and before the National Labor Relations Board and also responds to union grievances. He recently led successful negotiations to convert the workday at an Illinois manufacturing plant from a five-day, eight-hour schedule to rotating three- and four-day workweeks with 12-hour shifts, keeping the facility competitive and allowing it to better meet customer demands. Throughout the pandemic, Goldberg guided

Barbara Grayson joined Willkie Farr & Gallagher last year as partner and chair of the private client practice. She was one of the original six partners to launch Willkie Chicago, now at 55 attorneys. Grayson advises influential families, including the Crown family, and she’s worked with some clients for two decades and often counsels multiple generations. She also has discreetly settled family disputes, often with creative solutions. Grayson joined Willkie Farr from Jenner & Block, where she was partner and chair of the private wealth practice. Earlier, she practiced at Mayer Brown for more than 14 years. Grayson’s pro bono practice has benefited educational and cultural institutions, including After School Matters, Lyric Opera of Chicago and Victory Gardens Theater. She is on the board of the Chicago Zoological Society.

At Polsinelli, Eric Greenfield chairs the real estate division, which focuses on niche areas, including industry-specific incubator spaces and technology hub locations rather than big-box retail. His disciplined approach has enabled the department to triple in size over the past five years. Greenfield spent much of the last 18 months functioning as strategic counselor, offering guidance on issues from pandemic safety measures to lease forbearance. Despite the pandemic’s impact on commercial real estate, Greenfield closed 141 land purchase deals in North America and Europe last year, up from 137 in 2019. Greenfield joined Polsinelli in 2012 from Greenberg Traurig, where he was a shareholder. He’s a member of the Judd Goldman Adaptive Sailing Foundation, where he helps conduct classroom and onthe-water sailing instruction for people with disabilities.

Capital markets attorney Robert Hayward counsels public companies and private-equity funds. Clients include Boeing, Deere, Kellogg, Cushman & Wakefield, Whirlpool and Carvana. Hayward spent two decades creating a differentiated market position around founder-led and private-equity-backed companies. Over the past 18 months, Hayward led the most company-side IPOs, according to Deal Point Data’s list of the 20 most active lawyers for IPOs. He’s the only Midwest-based lawyer on the list. This year, he led Ryan Specialty Group’s $1.6 billion IPO, the first for a pure-play insurance wholesale broker. He led a $300 million debt offering for Whirlpool’s inaugural sustainability bonds. And he handled Boeing’s May 2020 $25 billion senior notes, considered the largest non-M&A offering. He leads Kirkland’s initiatives in green, social and sustainable bonds.

Former federal prosecutor Laura Hoey is co-leader of Ropes & Gray’s global litigation & enforcement practice group. Recently, she was counsel to a defendant in the Operation Varsity Blues college admissions scandal and was lead counsel for H.I.G. Capital in a multiyear investigation by the Justice Department. Over several years, Hoey has served as Chicago office managing partner, co-leader of the government enforcement & white-collar group, co-leader of the health care & life sciences group and the co-chair of the Women’s Forum. Hoey rejoined Ropes & Gray in

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2011 after serving as an assistant U.S. attorney in Little Rock, Ark., for more than four years. She’s a member of the Criminal Justice Panel of the Northern District of Illinois, where she provides pro bono criminal defense services.

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clients through managing new safety precautions and developed policies on prevention measures. Key to this has been negotiating employment agreements to combat employee shortages.

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CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS • NOVEMBER 22, 2021 25

JEFFERY HOFFENBERG Partner Levenfeld Pearlstein

Jeffery Hoffenberg this fall was appointed to Levenfeld Pearlstein’s executive committee after serving as chair of its real estate group since 2018. During Hoffenberg’s tenure leading the real estate practice, the group had net growth of more than 33%, with 68% of new hires being women. The group’s revenue grew by nearly 50%. During the pandemic, Hoffenberg and his wife teamed with an infectious disease doctor to launch a business that tests school communities for COVID-19 using a lab-developed saliva test. Before joining the firm

in 2011, Hoffenberg was general counsel for the Cook County treasurer. He is a commissioner on the Village of La Grange Plan Commission, after having previously served on the Village of La Grange Zoning Board of Appeals for six years.

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HELANA ROBBINS HUDDLESTON Partner CohnReznick

Helana Robbins Huddleston leads CohnReznick’s Midwest transactional advisory practice, managing client relationships, providing financial analysis in a variety of operational and financial areas, including M&A due diligence, restructuring, cash flow budgeting, operational analysis, financial auditing, internal control evaluation and business process improvement. She founded two NextGen programs at CohnReznick that focus on guiding individuals on networking (virtually and in-person), following up with contacts, elevator pitch execution, monetizing networks and effective management styles. She is chair of the diversity committee at DePaul University and is a member of its finance board where she advises on undergraduate curriculum. She is on the executive board of ACG Chicago and has been a volunteer and wish grantor with Make-A-Wish for more than 11 years.

NICOLE JACKSON Partner Applegate & Thorne-Thomsen

Partner Nicole Jackson is a member of the firm’s management committee and is working to institutionalize efforts in diversity and inclusion. She represents developers and investors in providing affordable housing, including the redevelopment of public housing. The last 18 months have marked the culmination of projects she handled: the opening of the most recent phase of Holsten Real Estate Development’s Parkside Old Town project on the site of the former Cabrini-Green complex and the opening of 4400 Grove, a new commercial/residential development in her Bronzeville neighborhood. In her DEI work, Jackson advocates for the firm to annually contribute a portion of profits to a donor-advised fund to invest in social justice initiatives. She’s a member of the ABA Forum on Affordable Housing & Community Development Law.

SHERYL JAFFEE HALPERN Principal Much Shelist

The core of Sheryl Jaffee Halpern’s practice, guiding business leaders in labor and employment decisions, was in high demand during the pandemic as she guided employers managing remote workforces, mask and vaccine mandates, and return-to-work plans. As a member of Much Shelist’s Management Committee, she helps chart the firm’s long-term strategic direction. As co-chair of Much University, she leads skill-building training and professional development initiatives, and co-facilitates a mentoring

group composed of attorneys at all levels. Jaffee Halpern formed Power Rainmakers NFP, an annual two-day conference that brings together women partners from law firms across the U.S. and Canada.

JAIME JONES Partner Sidley Austin

A co-leader of Sidley’s global health care practice, Jaime Jones represents the country’s largest health care providers and global life sciences companies in government enforcement, regulatory and compliance risk matters. She also assists private-equity investors in evaluating opportunities in the health care and life sciences industries. She has defended one of the nation’s largest health care providers in three Department of Justice investigations. She counsels two of the nation’s largest retail pharmacy chains on enforcement risk related to pricing and is advising a global retailer to bring full-service primary care to retail centers nationally. She’s a member of Sidley’s COVID-19 Task Force and its Global Life Sciences Council, where she coordinates work across dozens of disciplines. Jones sits on the board of Legal Aid Chicago and on the Legal Advisory Board of World Business Chicago.

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26 NOVEMBER 22, 2021 • CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS

JENNIFER KENEDY

RAY J. KOENIG III

JORGE LEON

ADAM LEVITT

KENNETH LUMB

Vice chair, executive committee Partner and deputy general counsel Locke Lord

Managing member of Chicago office Global co-chair of litigation practice group Clark Hill

Partner Michael Best & Friedrich

Co-founding partner DiCello Levitt Gutzler

Managing partner Corboy & Demetrio

Jorge Leon is a partner, group co-leader of Employee Benefits and co-chair of the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee at his firm. He’s been recognized as a leader in employee benefits by Chambers USA, an independent rating agency, and was elected a fellow of the American Bar Foundation (only 1% of Illinois attorneys achieve this honor). He is on the board of Gads Hill Center, a 123-year-old nonprofit serving Chicago’s Black and Hispanic neighborhoods, and is on the Leadership Advisory Council for the Wisconsin LGBT Chamber of Commerce. Since 2020, he’s served on the Field Museum’s Collections Committee, Retirement & Benefits Committee, Diversity Equity Access & Inclusion Committee and the Repatriation Subcommittee, which is responsible for resolving claims for restoring artifacts to native populations.

Adam Levitt co-founded his firm in 2017 to advance the cause of justice for individuals, businesses and governmental entities. He’s led a number of prominent cases, including multibillion-dollar damages and remediation litigation over PFAS “forever chemical” contamination, a multibillion-dollar class action against ComEd and Exelon seeking recovery of profits obtained by bribing politicians, and Norwegian Air’s claim for damages from Boeing’s 737 Max debacle. He serves on advisory boards for the American Constitution Society’s Chicago Chapter, Duke Law Center for Judicial

Kenneth Lumb helps oversee the firm’s operations as well as mass tort litigation, including a multiplaintiff toxic tort lawsuit stemming from a large chemical spill and a multiplaintiff lawsuit involving cancer related to herbicide exposure. In 2003, while in the Army Reserve and employed by Corboy & Demetrio, he was mobilized in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and served six months at Walter Reed Medical Center as the Acting Center Judge Advocate Law. Today, he performs pro bono work on behalf of veterans and active duty and reserve service members. In

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Jennifer Kenedy, vice chair of Locke Lord’s executive committee since 2018, concentrates her practice on commercial litigation, including trade secret misappropriation and other intellectual property litigation; employment and contractual disputes; construction; product liability; ERISA; real estate and eminent domain. She co-founded the Coalition of Women’s Initiatives in Law, a nonprofit membership association bringing together organizations dedicated to advancing women lawyers. She also co-founded Women Office Managing Partners, which meets to share best practices. She currently chairs Locke Lord’s Business Transformation Task Force to ensure the firm leads the industry in transforming the way it provides legal services in a post-COVID-19 world. She is an Executive Board member of Chicago Bears wide receiver Allen Robinson’s Within Reach Foundation and a member of The Fairway Network.

Ray J. Koenig III is a managing member of Clark Hill’s Chicago office as well as co-chair of its litigation practice, a group of approximately 215 lawyers. He represents individuals, families, financial institutions, medical institutions, and governmental organizations in all areas of tax and estate planning. He was the first openly LGBTQ individual to lead a major practice group at the firm, and used his platform to advocate for diversity, equity & inclusion initiatives; an expansion of the summer associate program into more diverse communities; and an adoption of firm policy positions on workplace equality. In March, he was elected as second vice president of the Chicago Bar Association. He is a commissioner on Chicago’s Commission on Human Relations and co-chair of the National Legacy and Planned Giving Council of the Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund.

Studies, and Institute for Consumer Antitrust Studies.

2020, he tried a case remotely in federal court in Chicago, seeking to hold Iran accountable for its support of Iraqi militants who killed and wounded U.S. soldiers in southern Iraq in 2009.

Congratulations to our co-founding partner Adam Levitt Named to Crain’s Chicago Business 2021 Notable Gen X Leaders in Accounting, Consulting & Law

Justice in all its P013-P022_CCB_20211122.indd 26

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CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS • NOVEMBER 22, 2021 27

AMY MANNING

LINDSEY MARKUS

MICHAEL MARTINEZ

MOLLY MCGINLEY

Chair of Antitrust, Trade & Commercial Litigation Department McGuireWoods

Shareholder Chuhak & Tecson

Managing partner, Chicago office K&L Gates

Partner K&L Gates

In addition to running her own national practice, leading a practice group (with 25% of the firm’s practitioners) and serving as a trustee for the firm’s profit-sharing plan, Lindsey Markus is on four committees: Executive, Business Development, Space Planning and Women Helping Women. The first woman shareholder in the firm’s 30-year history, she built a national practice through education, speaking engagements and television appearances, tackling topics such as assisted reproductive technology, cryptocurrency and income tax planning. She is also one of the founders of the firm’s Women Helping Women program. Markus sits on the Jewish United Fund board and chairs their philanthropic funds committee. She also co-chairs the Planned Giving Committee for the American Technion Society.

Michael Martinez is the managing partner of K&L Gates’ Chicago office and a member of the firm’s management committee and firmwide diversity committee. He is chair of the Chicago Committee on Minorities in Large Law Firms, one of the largest and oldest organizations focused on the advancement of diverse lawyers in Chicago. His practice is concentrated on multidistrict class actions involving antitrust cartel and other complex commercial litigation and government investigations. His involvement in pro bono and social justice initiatives include a case winning asylum for a Kenyan refugee who would have been subject to torture if she were returned to her home country. About 75% of the lawyers hired under Martinez’s leadership have been female, racially or ethnically diverse, or LGBT. He is a board member for Northwestern Settlement.

Molly McGinley is practice group coordinator for securities and transactional litigation and leads the firm’s Biometric Data Compliance & Defense Affinity Group. She has extensive class action and complex litigation experience, including defending an audio & speech recognition services company in a putative class-action case involving a novel interpretation of the Illinois Biometric Privacy Act. She was selected as a Leading Lawyer in Commercial Litigation by Law Bulletin Media. She is involved in the firm’s Women in the Profession Group and helped create the Chicago Mastermind Program, an initiative aimed at supporting the business and professional development goals of female lawyers. She also is co-chair of K&L Gates for Equal Justice, a joint initiative of the firmwide Diversity committee and Pro Bono committee.

As global chair of McGuireWoods’ Antitrust, Trade & Commercial Litigation Department, Amy Manning handles criminal and civil antitrust and commercial litigation matters for international and U.S. companies and individuals. In the past year and a half, she’s handled matters involving allegations of price fixing, market allocation, bid rigging, no-poach agreements, tying arrangements, bundling, monopolization and attempted monopolization. She is vice chair of the 2020 and 2022 ABA Antitrust Section International Cartel Workshop. She co-founded the Chicago Women Antitrust Lawyers Network, the first professional networking group for women antitrust lawyers in the area. She is chair of the ABA Antitrust Section’s Diversity Long Range Planning Committee and twice served as chair of the American Diabetes Association Chicago board. She’s also on the Negaunee Music Institute Board of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

KERRYANN HAASE MINTON Managing partner Michael Best & Friedrich

Kerryann Haase Minton is Chicago office managing partner and on the firm’s management committee. She counsels financial institutions, manufacturers, logistics companies and higher education institutions on a spectrum of employment issues, including discrimination, wrongful termination, wage and hour claims, staff and leadership training, succession planning, board of directors governance and harassment avoidance. She is responsible for client service, office growth, teamwork culture and talent development. Since January, the Chicago office has hired more than 20 attorneys and staff and, under her leadership, the Chicago office is now more than 68% diverse. A graduate of John Marshall Law School, now UIC Law, Minton is on the firm’s Management, Compensation, DE&I and Women’s Development committees. She is on the board of Chicago Dancing Company and a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization.

ROPES & GRAY congratulates our partners

Laura Hoey and Paulita Pike and all the “Notable Gen X Leaders in Accounting, Consulting and Law” recognized by Crain’s Chicago Business. Laura Hoey

Paulita Pike

Litigation & Enforcement

Asset Management

ropesgray.com

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28 NOVEMBER 22, 2021 • CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS

DESIREE F. MOORE

DAVID MORRISON

Partner K&L Gates

Principal Goldberg Kohn

Desiree F. Moore is a litigation partner at K&L Gates and founder of the firm’s Digital Crisis Planning & Response client solution. Her practice focuses on crisis management, including helping corporations, educational institutions, sports clientele, and high-profile individuals navigate data security incidents and data breaches, online impersonation and harassment, public scandals, and celebrity disgrace events. As a co-resident of the firm’s Doha, Qatar, office, Moore has experience in both domestic and international arbitration. In 2020, she was honored with the St. Robert Bellarmine Award for notable contributions to her profession and the Loyola University School of Law. She also is firmwide director of professional development and is on the board of governors for Ingenuity, which promotes arts education in Chicago Public Schools.

As administrative partner, David Morrison chairs the firm’s regular partnership meetings, leads the firm’s assessment of COVID-19 policies and return-to-work guidance, serves as a principal in the litigation and labor & employment groups, and leads trial counsel on federal and state cases. Among recent highlights, he created a sustainable pro bono asylum program resulting in the 2021 PBI Corporate Partnership Award honoring a five-year partnership created by the firm with McDonald’s, the National Immigrant Justice Center and Jenner & Block to represent immigrants seeking asylum. He also argued

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before the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirming a decision to enjoin the Trump administration’s public charge rule from taking effect. Morrison helped to create the first diversity initiative at the firm.

CINTHIA GRANADOS MOTLEY Member Dykema Gossett

At Dykema Gossett, Cinthia Granados Motley is director of the global data privacy & information security practice. She’s handled international data breaches for a decade. Motley acts as incident response counsel to large organizations, advising them on information governance and litigation readiness, as well as mitigating cyber-risk exposures, data security and privacy litigation. Motley speaks to publications and in webinars on cyber risk. She developed Dykema’s privacy and cybersecurity blog, “The Firewall,” and set up a cyber responder hotline. She’s a member of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals Electronic Discovery Pilot Program committee and leads its privacy and data security project team. Motley joined Dykema in 2018 from Sedgwick, where she was a partner. Motley also is an adjunct professor for IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law.

TIMOTHY NELSON

KRISTI S. NOLLEY

THO

Member Aronberg Goldgehn Davis & Garmisa

Partner BatesCarey

Share Foran

Kristi S. Nolley is coverage and litigation counsel to domestic and international insurers in matters of professional liability coverage, including D&O, E&O, health care and EPL coverage. She is called upon for clients’ most complex insurance claim issues involving securities fraud class actions, derivative actions, regulatory investigations and product liability class actions. Nolley has been handling the day-to-day defense of two insurance company clients in a high-profile Purdue Pharma insurance coverage lawsuit; the company is fighting to exit Chapter 11 in one of the largest bankruptcy proceedings in history. As the first-ever female member of the

Thom pres and and

An equity member at Aronberg Goldgehn, Timothy Nelson co-chairs the firm’s business law & transactions practice group, which increased its diversity composition by nearly 18% in 2021. In this role, he manages the group’s internal operations, external presence and profitable revenue generation. As a business lawyer, he works as outside general counsel for middle market and privately held businesses. The firm’s cannabis practice group has grown exponentially because of Nelson’s representation of multi-state operators in various business transactions and compliance matters. He was elected to the executive committee of Legal Netlink Alliance, an international network of law firms that facilitates the firm’s ability to remain competitive by connecting clients with high-quality legal counsel around the world.

firm’s management committee, Nolley also leads BatesCarey’s Tea Talk initiative, in which attorneys and clients discuss workplace inclusivity and diversity. She is a member of the Professional Liability Underwriting Society.

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CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS • NOVEMBER 22, 2021 29

THOMAS ORLANDO

SEEMA PAJULA

BINAL PATEL

PAULITA PIKE

KAREN PINKERT-LIEB

Shareholder and firm president Foran Glennon

Partner Deloitte

Seema Pajula is vice chairman, clients, industries and insights leader and consumer national industry leader at Deloitte. She is lead partner for two Fortune 500 companies and has client leadership roles at several clients in both the attest and relationship spaces. She is a member of the U.S. management committee, Client & Market Growth executive committee, global clients & industries executive committee, and Deloitte’s U.S. growth council. She also is the cross-functional industry transformation go-to-market initiative leader. Pajula was the Manufacturing Institute’s STEP vice chair, championing the impact of women in manufacturing, and developed Deloitte’s external-industry DEI strategy to shape client thinking around attracting and enabling talent. She is vice chair of Chicago Scholars Foundation and finance committee chair of Leadership Greater Chicago.

Chicago managing partner and partner, asset management group Ropes & Gray

Senior partner Schiller DuCanto & Fleck

Thomas Orlando is the firm’s president, directing the growth and operations of nine offices and the professional development of 50 attorneys and 30 staff. His legal practice includes litigation and appellate work defending insurance companies in property and liability coverage cases. In his practice, he has obtained numerous reversals of summary judgments in insurance coverage disputes and product-liability cases. Other career highlights include litigating claims involving fraud, bad faith and business interruption. Orlando transformed how the firm services clients across nine offices on two continents, pioneering a structure that, for example, has bolstered the firm’s London footprint and integrated U.K.-based partners in a cohesive way. He is a member of the Grant Park Music Festival board of directors and a governing member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Principal shareholder and president Banner Witcoff

Binal Patel is president of intellectual property law firm Banner Witcoff, managing patent procurement programs, leading complex litigation matters in federal courts, and handling inter partes review proceedings before the USPTO’s Patent Trial & Appeal Board. Patel has successfully enforced the IP rights for a large roster of clients, including major financial and insurance institutions, as well as innovative companies like YETI Coolers, Evertz Microsystems and Kraft Foods. A former engineer, he is an adjunct professor at the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law. He is co-founder of the Indian American Bar Association of Chicago and the North American South Asian Bar Association. Patel also leads the North Shore Corporate IP Roundtable program, which he founded to provide networking opportunities for IP attorneys working as in-house counsel.

Paulita Pike is Ropes & Gray’s Chicago managing partner and a leading registered funds lawyer in the city. She represents registered openand closed-end funds, ETFs, funds of hedge funds, and funds investing in private equity. Among recent highlights, she guided Invesco on its market-first, semitransparent ETF; advised Calamos Funds in their acquisition of asset management firm Timpani Capital Management; counseled Primark Capital in the launch of its closed-end fund; and advised Innovator Funds trustees in their oversight of “defined outcome” mutual funds. Pike launched the

firm’s community engagement and outreach program, connecting associates with nonprofits and, as part of Ropes’ Women’s Forum, she mentors female asset-management associates.

Karen Pinkert-Lieb’s background in finance, tax law, and psychology make her well suited to navigate complex custody and financial cases. After years of success as a litigator, she was one of the first attorneys at SDF to dedicate her practice to alternative dispute resolution. She was one of the firm’s first female equity partners, and she was chair of the Family Law Section of the Illinois State Bar Association where she drafted family law legislation. She has been instrumental in mentoring and promoting female attorneys from law clerks to owners, including promoting alternative work arrangements. A Chicago-

Kent College of Law grad, she also participated in the creation of SDF Cares, a firmwide volunteer initiative.

We salute all of the 2021 Notable Gen X Leaders in Accounting, Consulting and Law and are especially proud of our recognized attorneys. Kevin, Lindsey and Cisco Your sound leadership and willingness to mentor younger or less experienced attorneys, outstanding client service and extraordinary community service are but a few reasons why we feel privileged that you have chosen to practice with us.

Kevin Coyne

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Lindsey Paige Markus

Francisco (Cisco) Connell

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30 NOVEMBER 22, 2021 • CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS

ERIKA POWERS

MICHAEL RENETZKY

TRISHA RICH

WILLIAM RIDGWAY

STEPHANIE RIFKIND

MIT

Partner Barnes & Thornburg

Chicago office managing partner Locke Lord

Mana Much

Michael Renetzky leads Locke Lord’s Chicago office, one of the firm’s largest with more than 150 lawyers and team members. His practice focuses on investment management, securities and corporate law, counseling clients on securities law compliance, debt and equity financing matters, and investment company and broker-dealer regulation. He also devotes a substantial portion of time to representing buyers and sellers in mergers and acquisitions transactions. He chairs the firm’s finance committee, co-leads the firm’s investment adviser & alternative funds practice group, and is a member of the firm’s U.K. executive committee. A graduate of Harvard Law, Renetzky is on the board of directors of the Trees That Feed Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to planting food-bearing trees to feed people, create jobs and benefit the environment.

Partner Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom

Partner Swanson Martin & Bell

Erika Powers advocates for municipal and industrial clients facing complex water quality issues nationwide, including enforcement defense, permitting, and negotiating federal consent decrees governing community investments in wet weather infrastructure improvements. She has led significant negotiations with the DOJ, the EPA, and states for communities across the country, helping Peoria, for example, achieve a novel agreement to address combined sewer overflows to the Illinois River primarily through green infrastructure projects. She’s also chair of the firm’s national environmental department, having restructured it to focus on attorney development, business development and recruiting rather than geographic offices. Powers is on the board of trustees for Alma College, is a former chair of the Chicago Bar Association’s Environmental Law committee and is a past member of the Woman’s Club of Evanston.

Partner and co-chair, legal profession team Holland & Knight

Trisha Rich co-chairs Holland & Knight’s national Legal Profession Team, which provides outside lawyers, law firms, inhouse counsel, and legal technology companies with a suite of services addressing significant risk management and ethics issues. A leader in the field of legal ethics, Rich was part of teams that petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for a man who charged that his denial of admission to the Illinois bar violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Supreme Court of New Jersey on behalf of a litigant who unjustly lost her bar license. She is on the Chicago Bar Association’s task force on the sustainable practice of law & innovation and is an adjunct professor of law for legal ethics and professional responsibility at NYU School of Law.

William Ridgway represents businesses, their boards and executives in government investigations and enforcement proceedings, internal investigations and civil litigation. He also advises clients on cybersecurity incident preparation and response and national security issues, in addition to a variety of matters related to cryptocurrency, blockchains and digital assets. He represented Flagstar Bank in settling a consumer class action arising from a data breach and is part of the team representing Purdue Pharma in its resolution of Department of Justice civil and criminal investigations concerning the sale and marketing of opioid products. Ridgway is on the board of Future Founders, which seeks to seed more diverse founders in the startup ecosystem. He’s also active in the Leadership Greater Chicago fellowship program and is a lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School.

Stephanie Rifkind is responsible for the defense, litigation and management of over 100 toxic tort suits for various corporate clients, including Fortune 500, international and Illinois-based companies. Rifkind recently expanded her practice to include assisted reproductive technologies, a complex and emerging area of law about which she is particularly passionate due to her own struggles with pregnancy loss and fertility. She also co-chairs the firm’s Advancement of Women+ in Law committee, a tailored program to provide mentorship and guidance for women attorneys at all levels of the firm, and is also involved with paralegal recruitment, training, placement and support. A graduate of John Marshall Law School, now UIC Law, she also mentors multiple first-year associates at SMB as part of the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism’s Lawyer-to-Lawyer Mentoring Program.

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CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS • NOVEMBER 22, 2021 31

MITCHELL ROTH

DOUGLAS SARGENT

ERIN SCHRANTZ

KRISTEN SEEGER

CHRISTOPHER SHEEAN

Managing partner Much Shelist

Partner Greenspoon Marder

Partner Jenner & Block

Partner Sidley Austin

Partner Swanson Martin & Bell

Mitchell Roth is responsible for Much Shelist’s direction and strategic vision while preserving its client-centric and employeefocused culture. He also leads Much’s business & finance group and advises owners and executives at public and privately held companies as well as in the private-equity community. Recent highlights include his representation of Lakeshore Recycling Systems in several major acquisitions as well as a transformative recapitalization. In 2019, Roth committed Much Shelist to the Mansfield Rule initiative and successfully achieved Mansfield-certified status by considering at least

Douglas Sargent is a leading partner in Greenspoon Marder’s cannabis law practice group, which recently launched a Chicago office. He advises clients on legal and regulatory issues, including licensing, compliance and litigation. He also represents clients in consumer finance and other types of litigation. Sargent and his team recently represented more than 20 plaintiffs in a landmark cannabis litigation against the state of Illinois centered around cannabis license lotteries. He provides pro bono legal services to individuals disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs, assisting participants of the pilot Social Equity & Education Development incubator program launched by Cresco Labs. Over the past 15 years, he has been involved with the National Immigrant Justice Center as a board member and pro bono attorney, helping secure asylum for many clients.

Erin Schrantz is co-chair of Jenner & Block’s investigations, compliance & defense practice, and a core member of the firm’s monitorship practice, representing clients across industries in investigations and complex litigation. She conducts compliance-risk assessments on financial crimes, including bribery and corruption, fraud, #MeToo and other compliance-risk areas. She is part of the team-appointed monitor of the United Auto Workers in response to a government investigation involving union officials. She also led the compliance team for the monitor of Credit Suisse following the bank’s $715 million settlement with New York for aiding and abetting tax evasion. A member and former co-chair of the Women’s Forum, Schrantz participates in coaching circles, has promoted programs to support working parents and created a mentor program to advance junior women partners to equity.

Kristen Seeger is a leading partner in Sidley’s securities & shareholder litigation practice, focusing on high-stakes cases and investigations. She represents companies, executives, and corporate boards in sensitive securities and shareholder litigation and SEC enforcement. She also co-leads Sidley Chicago’s associate evaluation committee and is on Sidley’s diversity committee. Recent high-profile cases include representing Walgreens in disputes related to Theranos, the blood-testing venture, and Johnson & Johnson in defense of securities fraud and shareholder derivative litigation involving talcum powder products. She also represents Johnson & Johnson in opioid litigation alleging breaches of fiduciary duty. She’s treasurer of Mujeres Latinas en Acción, which supports survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. She is also on the DEI committee of the Red Cross board.

Christopher Sheean chairs Swanson Martin & Bell’s class-action practice group, manages a practice of commercial litigation and products liability defense work, and sits on the firm’s associates committee. He also is responsible for managing all aspects of the paralegals program, overseeing hiring and ensuring that the candidates are pooled from a diverse group. He is national counsel for a sporting goods manufacturer and has obtained successful outcomes for TransUnion, Under Armour and ABS Graphics in commercial disputes in Illinois state and federal courts. Sheean is an adjunct professor at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, teaching trial advocacy; is active in the Defense Research Institute; and is a board member for the Chicago chapter of Swim Across America, which raises money for cancer research at Rush University Medical Center.

30% historically under-represented attorneys for leadership roles, executive committee roles, equity partner promotions, pitch opportunities, and senior lateral positions.

Congratulations to Thompson Hine partner Steven A. Block for being named a Notable Gen X Leader in Accounting Consulting and Law. Thompson Hine LLP, a full-service business law firm with approximately 400 lawyers in 8 offices, is committed to innovation. Its nationally recognized SmartPaTHTM approach to service delivery is a smarter way to work – predictable, efficient and aligned with client goals. Learn more at ThompsonHine.com/SmartPaTH.

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32 NOVEMBER 22, 2021 • CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS

MARK SILBERMAN

KIMBERLY SMITH

MAILE SOLÍS

DAVID SOLOMON

Partner Benesch

Partner Katten

Partner Levenfeld Pearlstein

Mark Silberman chairs Benesch’s white-collar, government investigations & regulatory compliance group and is vice chair of the firm’s Healthcare+ group. He helps health care organizations ensure regulatory compliance and industries manage internal and external investigations, audits and government inquiries. As the pandemic pushed states to adjust regulatory requirements, he guided multiple clients so they could utilize expanded telehealth platforms and other innovations. He assisted Encompass Health in winning approval permits to construct three new rehabilita-

In spring 2021, Kimberly Smith was named corporate global chair, leading more than 125 attorneys based in offices throughout the U.S., the U.K. and China. She is instrumental in the strategic planning for the entire firm, including operations, profitability, and diversity and inclusion. Smith maintains an M&A and private-equity practice, counseling clients on leveraged buyouts, acquisitions, joint ventures and other investments across multiple industries ranging from health care and technology to business services and manufacturing. She also represents some prominent family

Partner Barack Ferrazzano Kirschbaum & Nagelberg

tion hospitals, and represented UroPartners, the Midwest’s largest urology group, in obtaining a new linear accelerator. Silberman is on the board of Camp Ramah in Wisconsin and is involved with its Tikvah program, which provides inclusion opportunities for children with special needs.

offices in Chicago in their direct investments in private companies. She is on the corporate board of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago and is a founding member of the organization’s guild board, which helps with fundraising. She also supports the Women’s Association of Venture & Equity.

Maile Solís co-chairs BFKN’s litigation group and is a partner in its fashion, luxury and retail, and motor vehicle groups. She has two decades of experience in complex commercial litigation, litigating matters involving breach of contract, fiduciary duty, data privacy, trademark infringement, insurance coverage, real estate, and employment discrimination disputes throughout the country. She serves as national counsel for LVMH in a range of litigation matters. Over the last year, she served as counsel to LVMH in an antitrust case; to Sephora in

a biometric information privacy class action; and to Moët Hennessy USA in consumer class actions. Solís is co-chair of BFKN’s pro bono committee and has been a member of the Leadership Council of the National Immigrant Justice Center since 2003.

Midwest focus. Global perspective.

David Solomon founded and currently leads the firm’s Employee Stock Ownership Plan practice and represents clients in merger and acquisition transactions, along with acting as outside general counsel to many clients. The practice has grown to include nearly 50 ESOP clients who complete approximately 30 transactions a year. During his five-year tenure as chair of the firm’s corporate practice group, it expanded into the insurance brokerage, cannabis, accounting and litigationfinance industries. Solomon is currently a member of the board

of the Illinois Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, a member of Vistage International, a past president of the Jewish Council for Youth Services, and a former member of the corporate committee of the Chicago chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

GRETCHEN HARRIS SPERRY Partner Hinshaw & Culbertson

Gretchen Harris Sperry handles appeals in state and federal appellate courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, on matters ranging from constitutional litigation to catastrophic injury. In one high-profile case, she secured partial reversal of a preliminary injunction order in a legal challenge to Cook County Jail’s COVID protocols. Sperry represents the Chicago White Sox, Chicago Bulls and the United Center in personalinjury and player disputes. She defended Major League Baseball and the White Sox in a multimillion-dollar, personal-injury lawsuit brought by a former New York Yankees player. Working with Hinshaw’s chief knowledge officer, Sperry assisted in the integration of technology and artificial intelligence into general litigation and appellate practices at the firm. She is on the executive board of the ABA Council of Appellate Lawyers.

Congratulations to Laurie Bauer, a founding partner at Cooley’s Chicago office, on her recognition as one of Crain’s 2021 Notable Gen X Leaders.

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CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS • NOVEMBER 22, 2021 33

WARREN STIPPICH

ROBERT SURRETTE

ANTHONY R. TAGLIA

WILLIAM TARNOW

NOEMIE TILGHMAN

National managing partner Grant Thornton

President McAndrews Held & Malloy

Managing partner Golan Christie Taglia

Partner Neal Gerber Eisenberg

Principal Deloitte Consulting

Warren Stippich oversees quality and risk management for advisory services and leads the firm’s COVID-19 response. He also works with multinational public and private companies, including boards of directors and audit committees, providing internal audit and related controls services. Stippich built the firm’s risk practice in the Chicago market and is often called on to build new services from scratch at a U.S. or global scale. He lectures on data analytics, governance, risk, audit committee readiness and compliance. He is a member of Grant Thornton’s African American business resource group and is active in supporting diverse recruiting and hiring practices. To improve the pipeline of qualified applicants, he also works with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Gies College of Business and its first associate dean for equity.

Robert Surrette is the leader of McAndrews and a key collaborative member managing the firm’s governance structure. For example, he is helping to innovate the firm’s business practices in view of significant recent changes in U.S. patent law. His practice is focused on the resolution of intellectual property and technologyrelated disputes with an emphasis on patent, trademark, trade secret and trade dress litigation. For the last 15 years, he has counseled a leading global medical device manufacturer on numerous litigation and transactional matters. Surrette has been president of the ChicagoKent Alumni board of directors,

Anthony R. Taglia counsels clients on corporate matters, mergers and acquisitions, tax, succession planning, real estate, banking and finance law, and structuring commercial deals. He is a CPA and earned his MBA in finance and his J.D. from DePaul University. His tenure at GCT spans 22 years, including serving on the executive committee for 12 years and leading the firm’s corporate group. He has been lead counsel for many years for a Chicago-based, 60-year-old family business that started in the family’s garage and grew into a multimillion-dollar business.

William Tarnow is chair of NGE’s Labor & Employment practice and a member of its executive committee. He manages employment-related disputes before federal and state courts and administrative agencies throughout the country and is a strategic partner to companies concerning business and employment matters. He’s handled trials and other court proceedings remotely, securing victories for clients in restrictive covenant, contract, and equal employment opportunity disputes. Tarnow recently secured a partnership on behalf of the Jordan Foundation with Sothe-

president of the Richard Linn American Inn of Court and regional commissioner of American Youth Soccer Organization Region 210. He’s also been an adjunct professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law.

When the family considered selling, Taglia’s estate planning strategy saved millions in tax liability. He is on the board for the nonprofit Rainbows for All Children, focused on children growing up with traumatic circumstances.

by’s for the sale of original Michael Jordan items, with all sale proceeds going directly to the foundation’s charitable missions.

Deloitte Consulting’s oil, gas & chemicals sector leader Noemie Tilghman guides multifunctional, global service strategy and operating model design programs that help drive large-scale cost reduction, process efficiency and effectiveness improvements. She is the go-to-market leader for Deloitte’s proprietary Visual Decision Xccelerator tool and is the chief talent officer for Deloitte’s enterprise performance practice, managing the full talent life cycle. Tilghman was Deloitte Consulting’s Strategy & Operations Competency Area leader, where she led Deloitte Consulting’s national campus hiring efforts enhancing the go-to-campus strategy. She works on Deloitte’s DEI efforts to increase representation at the analyst, consultant, and senior consultant levels, and is Deloitte’s sponsor to the Forté Foundation in support of women’s career advancement through access to business education.

CONGRATULATIONS, BOB SURRETTE McAndrews, Held & Malloy’s President and Shareholder, for being named one of Crain’s 2021 Notable Gen X Leaders in Accounting, Consulting, and Law. Thanks for your steadfast commitment to our colleagues, GPMIRXW ERH ƼVQ EPP [MXL E GSRWXERX JSGYW SR 1G%RHVI[W remaining one of the world’s premier, full-service intellectual TVSTIVX] ERH XIGLRSPSK] PE[ ƼVQW

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34 NOVEMBER 22, 2021 • CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS

MARK TIVIN

AMY VAN GELDER

MELISSA VENTRONE

KRISTIAN WERLING

STEVEN WHITMER

GRE

Partner Manning Gross + Massenburg

Partner Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom

Member Clark Hill

Partner McDermott Will & Emery

Partner Locke Lord

Melissa Ventrone is the leader of the cybersecurity, data protection & privacy group and cochair of the Asset360 integrated services group. She directs a multidisciplinary group including 25 lawyers and a team of forensic investigators across 26 offices to minimize client security risks and curtail cyberattack damages in the event of an incident. Over the last 18 months, Ventrone and her team have managed to mitigate numerous significant attacks and saved clients millions of dollars through negotiations with those holding data and systems hostage. A certified information privacy professional, Ventrone recently completed 21 years of service in the Marine Corps Reserve. She is a mentor in the Chicago-Kent College of Law’s Society of Women in Law mentorship program and volunteers as an ombudsman for the Employer Support of the Guard & Reserve.

Kristian Werling is co-head of McDermott’s private-equity practice and a member of the management committee. He recently represented Regenxbio in its $1.8 billion strategic partnership with AbbVie to develop and commercialize RGX-314, a potential one-time gene therapy. He also recently represented Compagnie Générale des Établissements Michelin SCA in its cross-border, $475 million sale of its subsidiary, Solesis, to Altaris Capital. Prior to becoming co-head of McDermott’s private-equity practice, Werling was co-head of the firm’s life sciences practice. In 2020, he helped launch the McDermott Rise steering committee, which provides a set of free legal and business services to companies founded and run by entrepreneurs of color. He is editor-in-chief of “The Fundamentals of Life Sciences Law: Drugs, Devices and Biotech.”

Steven Whitmer is a member of Locke Lord’s executive committee and is litigation coordinator for the 70-plus litigators in the firm’s Chicago office. Over the past 20 years, he has litigated all types of commercial disputes, including breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, false advertising, fraud and unfair business practices. In 2018, he was CVS’ lead hearing counsel before state insurance departments to obtain approval for the $70 billion CVS/ Aetna transaction. He also won an appeal before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a case against the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services regarding the legality of the federal government’s Medicare reimbursement demands. Since 2012, Whitmer has been on the board of trustees for Outreach Community Ministries, including as board president for two years (2019-2020).

Partn Skad Flom

Mark Tivin is the sole equity partner at MG+M’s Chicago office, essentially serving as partner-in-charge. His practice areas include asbestos, employment and environmental litigation, personal-injury and products liability. He is on the firm’s pro bono and professional education committees and, as national trial counsel for large industrial companies, handles thousands of toxic tort cases nationwide. In the past 18 months, he has secured victories on the trial teams of several major industrial corporations, including dismissals from several South Carolina high trial-threat cases in difficult courts. He also works in employment and racial discrimination cases in Illinois. A John Marshall Law School grad, Tivin was one of the firm’s seven attorneys named to the Law360 personal injury & medical malpractice editorial board.

Amy Van Gelder represents clients in complex commercial litigation, arbitration and trials, including class actions, bankruptcy litigation, and civil suits arising out of mergers and acquisitions, contracts, torts and constitutional violations. Van Gelder’s practice also includes bankruptcy cases and adversary proceedings. Van Gelder also is the attorney development partner for the Chicago Litigation Group and on the firmwide editorial board. In this role, she oversees staffing matters, educational opportunities and training. Van Gelder is the partner liaison for Skadden’s Women Excelling at Law organization. She also is on the board of directors and is secretary for CARPLS, Cook County’s largest provider of free legal services.

HOSPITAL CEO BREAKFAST

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12:30 p.m. Virtual Networking | 1-2 p.m. Event Broadcast $100 | Lunch giftcard will be provided *Live 12/14 event will be recorded for webcast event to be presented 12/16

The State of Health Care

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Thomas Jackiewicz President University of Chicago Medical Center

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MODERATOR

Donna Thompson CEO Access Community Health Network

Jim Kirk Group Publisher/ Executive Editor Crain’s Chicago Business

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#CrainsHospitalCEO @CrainsChicago

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CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS • NOVEMBER 22, 2021 35

GRETCHEN WOLF

LAUREN WOLVEN

LANCE ZINMAN

Partner Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom

Partner Levenfeld Pearlstein

Partner Katten Muchin Rosenman

Lauren Wolven is a partner in the firm’s trusts & estates group, and in July 2021, was appointed to the firm’s executive committee. She concentrates her practice on estate planning, representing corporate fiduciaries, tax and succession planning for privately held businesses, and trust and estate administration and litigation. In March 2020, Wolven wrote the initial draft of the executive order signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker and renewed throughout the pandemic, which allowed for remote witnessing and notarization of documents. In 2021, she was named to the

Lance Zinman leads a diverse, international team of 80-plus lawyers, including former Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Securities & Exchange Commission officials. Among recent highlights, he successfully guided quantitative trading firm Headlands Tech Holdings through numerous transactional/regulatory issues in the sale of its FINRA-registered broker-dealer to Toronto-Dominion Bank. Zinman began his career at Katten as a corporate lawyer working on private-equity and M&A deals, specializing in sports,

Gretchen Wolf is a litigation partner in Skadden’s Chicago office, representing clients in complex regulatory investigations, enforcement matters and civil litigation. She has experience managing multijurisdiction and cross-border matters with investigation and litigation components. She played an integral role in representing JPMorgan Chase in receiving final court approval of a favorable settlement in an antitrust lawsuit involving foreign currency trading. She also was a lead partner responsible for securing a precedent-setting victory in the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a 17-year-old antitrust lawsuit filed by U.S. Futures Exchange against the Chicago Board of Trade. She is co-chair of Skadden’s Global Women’s Initiatives committee and is on the boards of the National Immigrant Justice Center and the Chicago Foundation for Women.

AVERAGE CONSULTANT SALARY Illinois

$70,948

Chicago

$71,132

The average consultant salary is $74,668 per year, or $35.90 per hour, in the United States. People on the lower end, the bottom 10%, make roughly $56,000 a year, while the top 10% make $98,000. Alaska, Washington, Maryland, New Jersey and Massachusetts provide the highest consultant salaries.

CONSULTANT SALARIES, BY INDUSTRY Professional

$95,990

Health care

$82,229

Manufacturing

$81,701

Retail

$81,091

Technology

$79,897

Finance

$76,582

MANAGEMENT CONSULTING IN THE U.S. $253.07 billion $250.0 billion 200.0

advisory committee of Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning’s annual conference, the largest estate planning conference in the country. She is a fellow of the American College of Trust & Estate Counsel, where she is state chair for Illinois.

including representing the White Sox and Bulls franchises and developer Lew Wolff when he bought the Oakland Athletics. He is a member of the Northwestern Law Board and on the board of Help For Children, which raises money to help prevent child abuse.

150.0 100.0 50.0 0

‘11

‘12

‘13

‘14

‘15

‘16

‘17

‘18

‘19

‘20

‘21

Sources: Zippia, IBIS World

BARACK FERRAZZANO OC CONGRATULATES O G U SO OUR U PARTNER PARTNERS S RECOGNIZED R ECOGNIZED COG DA AMONG O G THE CRAIN’S CRAIN’S RA ’S ’S CHICAGO A O BUSINESS' B ' NOTABLE NOTAB NO O AB GEN X LEADERS IN ACCOUNTING,, CONSULTING & LAW

WE APPLAUD SARAH M. BERNSTEIN & MAILE HITOMI SOLÍS FOR THEIR LEADERSHIP, MENTORSHIP, AND COMMITMENT TO OUR FIRM AND THE LEGAL COMMUNITY Barack Ferrazzano Kirschbaum & Nagelberg LLP | T. 312.984.3100 | bfkn.com

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11/18/21 5:22 PM

36 NOVEMBER 22, 2021 • CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS

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

ARCHITECTURE / DESIGN

CONSTRUCTION

CONSULTING

LEGAL

Whitney Architects, Chicago

W.E. O’Neil Construction, Chicago

Healthscape Advisors, Chicago

Latham & Watkins, Chicago

Having spent 15+ years with Whitney Architects as an Associate and Senior PM, Jennifer Fangmann rejoins in a new role. With a deep understanding of contract administration and working with large corporate clients, Jennifer will serve as Account Specialist. She will partner with project leads to ensure seamless coordination of project billing, and mentor project managers on aligning resources for their work. Jennifer is a familiar and welcome presence to replace Diane Nakis who held the role for 37 years.

W.E. O’Neil Construction is pleased to welcome Keith Mrjenovich to the company as a Senior Project Manager in its Self-Perform Group. Mrjenovich has a background in structural engineering and nearly twenty years of experience in the construction industry, leading teams in the delivery of notable structural concrete projects throughout Chicago. W.E. O’Neil looks forward to Mrjenovich’s solutions-focused contributions to its best-in-class self-perform offerings.

HealthScape Advisors is excited to announce our newly promoted Managing Director, Mike Ferson. Mike has extensive experience supporting health plans, systems and physician groups in solving complex strategic and operational challenges. He specializes in designing and executing collaborative partnerships between payers and providers to manage the care of patient populations. Congratulations, Mike!

Owen J.D. Alexander has been elected a partner at Latham & Watkins in Chicago, effective January 1, 2022. A member of the Mergers & Acquisitions Practice in the Corporate Department, he advises private equity firms and public and private companies on a range of transactions, including M&A, dispositions, carve-outs, joint ventures, and other corporate matters. He has experience in multiple industries, including financial services, asset management, telecommunications, and real estate.

Jason B. Gott has been elected a partner at Latham & Watkins in Chicago, effective January 1, 2022. A member of the Restructuring & Special Situations Practice in the Finance Department, he advises borrowers, investors, acquirers, and other creditors in distressed situations, out-of-court restructurings, all aspects of Chapter 11 proceedings, and related state and federal court litigation.

LEGAL Latham & Watkins, Chicago ARCHITECTURE / DESIGN

CONSTRUCTION

CONSULTING

LEGAL

Whitney Architects, Chicago

W.E. O’Neil Construction, Chicago

Healthscape Advisors, Chicago

Latham & Watkins, Chicago

Laura Grodoski is passionate about taking a client’s design vision and transforming it into a reality. She joins Whitney Architects as a Senior Project Manager. During her 20 year career, Laura has partnered with a large variety of industries including technology, media, finance, and law. Laura takes care to consider workplace strategy and human centered design when bringing unique solutions to each project. Her thought leadership has been published in Work Design Magazine.

W.E. O’Neil is pleased to welcome Jacob Tanulanond to the firm as a Project Manager. As a results-oriented manager with nearly ten years of experience in construction management and operations, he brings to the firm lessons learned from delivering complex new construction and renovation projects throughout Chicago. Tanulanond will support W.E. O’Neil’s continued growth and sophisticated construction management capabilities in Chicago.

HealthScape Advisors is proud to announce our newly promoted Managing Director, Michelle Werr. Michelle serves as a key advisor to health plans, providers and private equity firms as they navigate the healthcare market, particularly in government programs. She supports clients with their most critical initiatives, from transaction advisory to new business model development to innovation within behavioral health, member engagement and social determinants of health. Congratulations, Michelle!

Scott W. Westhoff has been elected a partner at Latham & Watkins in Chicago, effective January 1, 2022. A member of the Capital Markets Practice in the Corporate Department, he advises clients on capital markets transactions as well as general securities and corporate governance matters. He represents issuers and underwriters in IPOs and other public and private offerings of debt and equity securities across a wide range of industries.

BANKING First Bank Chicago, Skokie First Bank Chicago, a Division of First Bank of Highland Park, is proud to announce the promotion of Samuel Hutter to Relationship Banker. He joins our team servicing consumer and business clients through our Skokie office. Sam started his career in 2019 as a Banking Apprentice, working and training alongside our team of experienced bankers while earning his Associates degree in Business from Harper College.

CONSTRUCTION

LAW

W.E. O’Neil Construction, Chicago

Ropes & Gray LLP, Chicago

W.E. O’Neil Construction is pleased to welcome Stacy Economy to its comprehensive Preconstruction department as an Estimator. Economy brings nearly ten years of industry experience to the firm; her background studying architecture and structural engineering, combined with her recent construction management experience, allows her to bring a unique perspective to her role. Economy is also a LEED Green Associate, Fitwel Ambassador, CNUAccredited, and a Green Advantage Certified Practitioner.

Private equity and M&A attorney Janet Coscino has joined Ropes & Gray’s 100-lawyer Chicago office. Janet regularly advises clients in large-scale mergers, carve-outs, joint ventures and auctions. The firm continues to expand its transactional practices in the Midwest, complementing a world-class team of private equity and M&A business advisers.

BANKING / FINANCE Fifth Third Private Bank, Chicago Lisa Mullaney is responsible for helping high-net-worth business owners navigate through the transition/sale process. She focuses on both the personal and financial impacts after the transition.

P036_CCB_20211122_v3.indd 1

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

Dale Chang has been promoted to counsel at Latham & Watkins in Chicago, effective January 1, 2022. A member of the Intellectual Property Litigation Practice in the Litigation & Trial Department, he focuses on patent disputes involving a range of leading-edge technologies. He has tried more than a dozen cases in US federal courts and at the US International Trade Commission. He also has experience in challenging and defending patents before the US Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

LEGAL

Latham & Watkins, Chicago

Caitlin E. Dahl has been promoted to counsel at Latham & Watkins in Chicago, effective January 1, 2022. A member of the Complex Commercial Litigation Practice in the Litigation & Trial Department, she advises companies in complex commercial and environmental litigation, international arbitrations, domestic arbitrations, and multidistrict class action litigations.

Colin O’Regan has been promoted to counsel at Latham & Watkins in Chicago, effective January 1, 2022. A member of the Banking Practice in the Finance Department, his practice ranges from middle-market to large-cap transactions, representing financial institutions and corporate borrowers in a range of leveraged finance transactions, with a particular focus on senior secured lending, acquisition financings, and crossborder transactions.

REAL ESTATE NON-PROFIT

@properties, Chicago

American Heart Association, Chicago

@properties welcomes Amanda Anderson, J.D., as Compliance Counsel. A former Chicago Association of REALTORS® professional standards executive, Anderson will serve as an in-house liaison to outside counsel and manage licensing, agency, ethics and disclosure issues. In addition, she will develop ongoing training for the company’s more than 4,000 agents. Anderson earned her J.D. from the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law.

Kimberly Bors, SVP and chief HR officer at Dover Corporation, has been appointed to the American Heart Association’s Midwest Board of Directors for a two-year term. In this role, she will help to oversee the revenue generation and health impact activities that support the association’s mission to be a relentless force for a world of longer, healthier lives. The American Heart Association is the world’s leading voluntary health organization devoted to fighting cardiovascular disease.

REAL ESTATE CRG, Chicago CRG welcomes Luke Stewart as Senior Paralegal in the firm’s Chicago office. As the newest member of CRG’s in-house legal team, Luke will focus his role in all areas of commercial real estate transactions, including purchasing, selling, leasing and financing. Prior to joining CRG, Luke was a paralegal in the Chicago office of law firm Polsinelli. Luke holds a B.A. from St. Bonaventure University.

11/17/21 11:38 AM

CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS • NOVEMBER 22, 2021 37

Assessments stressing small-business owners

CLASSIFIEDS CLASSIFIEDS ..

TAX from Page 1

P037_CCB_20211122.indd 37

To place your listing, contact Claudia Hippel at 312-659-0076 To place claudia.hippel@crain.com your listing, contact Claudiawww.chicagobusiness.com/classifi Hippel at 312-659-0076 or email eds or email claudia.hippel@crain.com www.chicagobusiness.com/classifieds CAREER OPPORTUNITIES CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

PAUL GOYETTE

COVID-era deferred rent to Grady’s J&L Catering. “I didn’t even know how to react, because the numbers were something that I just don’t know that we could absorb, given where we’ve come from the last 18 months,” he says. “It couldn’t come at a worse time.” Grady is one of many small-business owners around Chicago bracing for impact from the latest round of property valuations by Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi, which have been rolling out in tranches this fall. Their fear: After Kaegi’s suburban reassessments over the past two years shifted more of the local property tax burden onto commercial properties and away from homeowners, his work downtown will likely follow suit—and office landlords typically pass those costs along to tenants. Getting socked with a dramatically higher tax bill might not make a difference to larger companies in the central business district, but they have the potential to devastate smaller and midsize businesses— many of which can ill-afford the sticker shock as they labor to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and grapple with inflation and crippling shipping delays. At stake in some cases is the survival of businesses like Grady’s and those of other entrepreneurs, and the myriad, often blue-collar, jobs they support. With about 35,000 square feet, J&L Catering is one of the largest tenants in a complex that Kaegi’s office recently valued at nearly 170% more than the county’s 2020 estimate, public records show. While it’s still far from clear what that will mean for Grady’s tax bill, the building’s owner told him it’s realistic he’ll be on the hook for an extra $5,000 per month. Grady equates that to paying an extra month’s worth of rent each year for his 32-year-old business, which employs nearly 100 people and has about three years left on its lease in space it spent around $1 million customizing when it moved there from Goose Island. “It’s significant in the fact that we’re already dealing with increased product costs and supply chain issues—everything is more expensive.” Kaegi’s downtown assessments are only a valuation starting point, and things might not be as bad as some commercial landlords and tenants fear. Some of the assessments could be knocked down dramatically in the coming weeks and months through appeals with Kaegi’s office or by the Cook County Board of Review. The latter diminished the reassessment sting by cutting the aggregate assessed value of commercial and industrial properties in 2019 and 2020 in the northern suburbs by 32% from Kaegi’s total. Higher assessments also don’t automatically mean higher tax bills. Assessments only determine how the property tax pie will be split among residential and nonresidential owners, meaning increases only matter relative to how all properties have increased. Kaegi says that the overall base of downtown property assessments this year is up 50% compared with final 2018 valuations.

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Joe Wein saw a 441% jump from a year ago on his revamped, 100-year-old industrial building. But none of that is soothing the nerves of small-business owners who are trying to prepare for their real estate costs to spike. The increases have been especially sharp for Grady and his peers in the Kinzie Industrial Corridor, a district reserved primarily for light manufacturing uses immediately west of the trendy Fulton Market District. The area is one of the city’s largest hubs of small businesses, with nearly 28,000 jobs as of 2017, according to research from the city.

‘SCARING EVERYBODY’

Joe Wein, who has 18 employees across his Hampden watch and Posh Mommy jewelry companies at 1552 W. Carroll Ave., figures Kaegi’s office applied skyrocketing Fulton Market property values to his revamped, 100-year-old industrial building to estimate its market value this year at more than $8.9 million—an eye-popping 441% jump from a year ago. Wein, who also owns his building and has 10 small-business tenants—“It’s scaring the crap out of everybody,” he says—expects the assessment will come down through an appeal, but notes that a portion of the savings will go to a tax attorney handling it. “I dream about our taxes only doubling,” Wein says, noting businesses like his are caught between the city’s priority of allowing small businesses with blue-collar workers to thrive and the county’s reassessment effort that he says might price many of them out. If property assessments translate to big tax bill jumps for commercial properties in the neighborhood, “the county is implicitly making a decision to abandon the industrial character of the West Side.” At the Industrial Council of Nearwest Chicago’s four-building, 416,000-square-foot complex at 320 N. Damen Ave. that serves as an incubator for more than 100 small businesses, the assessor’s recent estimated market value soared to $46.6 million from $10.1 million last year. That’s a troubling sign for ICNC tenants like Modern Sprout co-founder Nick Behr, whose 50-person company designs and makes indoor and urban gardening products and leases 25,000 square feet in the complex. Behr says his business has outgrown its space and needs to stay in the neighborhood

for the sake of its employees, but he is afraid to leave in part because the new tax bills might be even worse at other buildings nearby. “We’d sacrifice efficiency a little to stay at the ICNC because of some of the unknowns out there,” he says. Tax hikes were expected as downtown property values surged in recent years, but the pace at which the numbers have shot up have gone far beyond what some tenants thought they’d go, says Peter Hammes, who opened a dental practice in 2016 at 1229 W. Washington Blvd., along the southern edge of the Fulton Market District. His share of the property’s tax bill already jumped by 45% over the past three years alone to nearly $26,000 this year. His landlord told him to expect that to rise again, based on the assessor’s initial estimate that the building is worth almost $8.6 million—67% more than last year’s number. “When you have this variable that you’ve budgeted for and, for several years in a row now, the taxes have come back significantly higher than even your highest estimate, that starts to make things challenging and it makes you have to change your business model some,” Hammes says. He has been seeking more out-of-network patients that generate higher margins for the practice to try to offset the new costs. Kaegi stresses his mandate is to value properties as accurately as possible using the resources he has—”we are about 230 people trying to value close to 2 million properties,” he says—and that it can be more difficult to find nuances of smaller properties that often house small businesses without a modern data collection system, like the one he has unsuccessfully pushed for through a bill in Springfield. But while vacancy and zoning limitations factor into a property’s value, so do sales of comparable properties. Among Kinzie Industrial Corridor buildings that may house small businesses, for example, Kaegi says some have sold for relatively high prices to buyers that may be speculating Fulton Market’s momentum will eventually help them drive up rents. “It’s hard for us to read the intention when someone makes a purchase,” Kaegi says, adding that comparable sales should factor into assessments “unless there’s a really good reason to exclude them.”

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11/19/21 4:30 PM

38 NOVEMBER 22, 2021 • CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS

‘Supply chain roadblocks’ causing delays for restaurant equipment suppliers to eat out, which is the great thing about this industry.” Lawrence De Maria, an analyst at William Blair in Chicago, says supply chain roadblocks have made predicting a full recovery difficult for both Middleby and some of its local competitors, including divisions of Illinois Tool Works and Dover. “The worst is over for restaurants and there is real optimism for their suppliers,” De Maria said. “But in many cases these companies are waiting for parts sitting on ships outside the port of Long Beach and it’s hard to tell when they will arrive.” De Maria estimates that restaurant owners who in the past customarily waited 45 to 60

wyn, has finished up construction work on its latest location, in Lakemoor, but can’t open. The owners are awaiting deliveries of french fryers, a walk-in cooler and a charbroiler that are all running months late. “We’ve been advised by our suppliers not to start construction on any more restaurants for at least another six months,” said Carlo Buonavolanto, Buona’s chairman. “All equipment manufacturers appear to be running far behind.”

DEALMAKING

In its third quarter Middleby reported a 76% rise in adjusted earnings to $106.4 million, or $1.92 per diluted share. But even that number might have been higher if CEO Fitz“THESE COMPANIES ARE WAITING FOR Gerald hadn’t held to his pledge not PARTS SITTING ON SHIPS OUTSIDE THE to raise prices on prodPORT OF LONG BEACH AND IT’S HARD back-ordered ucts even as his own costs have balTO TELL WHEN THEY WILL ARRIVE.” looned. As a result, Lawrence De Maria, analyst, William Blair profit margins have been compressed, days for delivery on a new piece analysts say. of equipment now face as long The backlog challenge isn’t as a year for their order to get likely to deter Middleby’s confulfilled. That’s held up expan- tinuing hunt for acquisitions. sion plans for many chains. For FitzGerald remembers that when instance, Buona Beef, a 25-store he arrived as controller in 1998 fast-casual group based in Ber- the company had three brands.

KEVIN BROWN

MIDDLEBY from Page 3

Middleby’s recently opened facility near Dallas showcases the company’s equipment for customers and partners. Today the total is 108, virtually all acquired. “Dealmaking is in our DNA,” FitzGerald said In April, Middleby struck a deal to acquire rival Welbilt, based in Florida, for $2.9 billion, but that offer was trumped a while later by an all-cash $3.5 billion offer from the Italian

Ali Group, which has its North American headquarters in Chicago. FitzGerald figures he still has the borrowing capacity to do a $2 billion or $3 billion deal and is on the prowl. First up he could snare an ice-making brand, Manitowoc Ice based in Wisconsin, a Welbilt unit that Ali

is slated to divest early next year as part of an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice. The company’s last significant deal was in September, when it purchased Corona, Calif.-based Imperial Commercial Cooking Equipment, which reports $40 million in annual sales.

Faculty recruitment not keeping pace with record U of I student enrollment but a 2019 estimate indicates the scope of the demand, which has “We’re going to be asking for only grown further. A presena significant (budget) increase tation made to the board then again. We usually do. We usually projected that 493 tenure-system don’t get it. But this year, I think hires would be needed at Urbawe can get a good component of na-Champaign, 390 at Chicago it to rebuild our faculty and to ad- and 33 at Springfield—or a total of nearly 1,000 new employees. dress the enlarged enrollment.” Per the budget request, apFaculty numbers across the system’s three campuses have proved by university trustees remained relatively flat over the Nov. 18, $10 million would be last decade, according to Paul used to hire new faculty and put Ellinger, interim CFO and comp- toward faculty retention, while troller for the U of I System. The $26.2 million would be used to Urbana-Champaign school em- boost salaries for existing profesploys 1,871 tenured faculty this sors so U of I can remain competyear compared with 1,848 in itive with rival universities. Two key factors are driving the 2016, and the Chicago campus employs 1,337 tenured faculty problem, one of which was intencurrently compared with 1,225 tional. Starting in 2016, Killeen tenured faculty in 2016. Faculty embarked on an ambitious plan reinforcements are most needed to boost enrollment at least 15% in high-growth topics like data by fall 2021, a target the schools science, computer science, en- have now exceeded. Enrollment gineering, health sciences, sta- across the three campuses grew from 81,499 in fall 2016 to 94,750 this “OUR TWO LARGE, RESEARCH I semester, bringing in INSTITUTIONS, URBANA-CHAMPAIGN, more tuition dollars, which makes up the AND CHICAGO, ARE ESPECIALLY largest share of the university’s operatVULNERABLE TO LOSING TALENT.” ing budget at about 24%. There was no U of I budget request matching effort to tistics, economics and business, scale faculty with student growth. An aggravating influence on Ellinger said. Ellinger declined to share a faculty numbers stems from the target number for how many fac- two-year budget impasse unulty members U of I is looking to der former Gov. Bruce Rauner. add. He said academic depart- During 2016 and 2017, when pubments are assessing their needs lic universities received limited and will report their findings, state appropriations, competing U OF I from Page 3

P038_CCB_20211122.indd 38

schools seized the opportunity to poach top-tier academics. In that period, 321 tenure-system faculty received outside employment offers, a 40% spike from previous years, with 70% of offers targeting Urbana-Champaign professors, according to the budget request. That was an “all-time high,” according to the budget request, which also noted that Texas specifically made plays for Illinois scholars. Human resources data shows that 337 faculty employees resigned from the three campuses between June 2016 and June 2017, an indication but not guarantee that they left for outside opportunities. The numbers include all faculty members, not just tenured positions, and don’t account for retirements, according to a spokeswoman.

FALLING BEHIND

Employees of color are also increasingly sought after. Though faculty from minority groups make up a third of tenure-track positions, they have received about half of all offers since 2018, according to the budget request. Another area in need of improvement is faculty compensation. When compared with peer institutions, salaries for faculty at Urbana-Champaign and Chicago fell in the middle of the pack and Springfield stood in the bottom half. The pay gap with other universities has widened over time to $11,600 for Urbana-Champaign faculty in 2021.

“Our two large, Research I institutions, Urbana-Champaign, and Chicago, are especially vulnerable to losing talent,” the budget request says. “The University of Illinois System must remain aggressive in the highly competitive market for top-quality faculty or risk falling behind.” The Urbana-Champaign campus employs one professor for every 20 students, according to U.S. News and World Report, which ranks it as the 47th best national university. That ratio was higher than all but one of the higher-ranked public universities, which had numbers as low as 14:1. It’s 5:1 at University of Chicago and 6:1 at Northwestern University. Ellinger said U of I will look to hire a mix of tenure-track and non-tenure track positions, but again declined to provide more specific estimates. Overreliance on adjunct professors, short-term contract lecturers, and nonresearch faculty could create tensions with unions and existing faculty groups, which prefer tenured positions. Schools, however, pay non-tenure-track faculty far less and can more easily eliminate positions based on budget needs or enrollment. In Chicago, the UIC United Faculty union, which represents both tenure- and non-tenuretrack faculty, has noticed ballooning class sizes in recent years, according to union President Janet Smith, a professor

of urban planning and policy. With increased enrollment, some large entry-level lecture courses have grown from 150 students to 180, while smaller ones that were typically capped at 25 students can accept more than 30. “It’s a different teaching experience,” Smith said of larger classes. “There’s all sorts of questions that come up just practically, let alone how you deliver classes.” Bigger classes also mean that professors can’t spend as much time helping individual students since they can get bogged down with more grading and expanded office hour requirements. But Bob Atkins, CEO of the higher education consulting company Gray Associates, said schools can offset the cost of hiring faculty, particularly accomplished scholars that require larger salaries, by ratcheting up class size. Atkins, who said there’s no empirical evidence that smaller class sizes improve the quality of higher education, noted that’s a trade-off some schools might be willing to make. “If you had a professor who is 20% more expensive than another professor, but the first professor teaches 10 students in his class and the other guy teaches 12, their cost to deliver a student credit hour is the same,” he said. “If you want to reduce the cost of higher ed, what you have to go and do is clean up the number of classes offered and the number of sections per class.”

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CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS • NOVEMBER 22, 2021 39

How sales are going at the Chicago market’s hottest luxury condo towers CONDO TOWERS from Page 3 Clearly, St. Regis and Tribune Tower are dominating this year’s luxury condo market. It’s not entirely surprising. “These are big buildings,” said Gail Lissner, senior managing director of Integra Realty Resources and a longtime analyst of the downtown condo market. “They’d be doing big numbers, no matter what.” The newly built St. Regis (formerly known as Wanda Vista and later Vista Tower) commands attention on the south bank of the Chicago River with its undulating 95-story tower wrapped in multihued glass, a dazzling piece of contemporary architecture from Studio Gang and its principal architect, Jeanne Gang. A few blocks west and across the river is the Tribune Tower, 34 stories of 1920s exuberance wearing a neo-Gothic crown and converted to condos after the Chicago Tribune departed in 2018. Two other visible new additions to the downtown market, the 47-story Cirrus in Lakeshore East and the 75-story One Chicago tower near Holy Name Cathedral, are not yet delivering finished condos to buyers. The St. Regis team in particular has been quite closed-mouthed about sales results since the first residents began moving in last December. Rob Pontarelli, senior vice presi-

dent of marketing for Magellan, the developer of the St. Regis, declined to make anybody on the development or sales team available for an interview with Crain’s. He emailed a prepared statement that said, among other things, that “sales have exceeded our expectations” and that “we are approximately 60% sold or under contract.” According to Crain’s research in the Cook County recorder of deeds online records, by Nov. 10 the developer had closed the sales of 151 units at its 353-unit St. Regis tower. That’s 42% sold. It’s difficult to verify the remaining 18%, because developers don’t necessarily publish their not-yetclosed contracts. On Redfin, the online real estate marketplace, Magellan has marked 18 units under contract. That’s 5% of the building’s total.

GLOBAL MARKETING

In the early years of the project, when Magellan was partnered with the Chinese hotel firm Wanda, a fair amount of effort went into attracting international buyers. In the sales records Crain’s examined, at least 40% of the buyers’ names recorded in public records are Asian. That’s almost 27% of the sales, a disproportionate figure in a metro area whose Asian population is a little over 6%. This suggests, but does not confirm, that the international sales effort met success.

The St. Regis units whose sales are pending include two priced at over $9 million and one priced at over $10 million. Crain’s found no indication in either real estate records or the public Cook County records that an $18.5 million contract that Magellan announced in 2018 has yet closed or gone pending. The unit is 10,640 square feet on the entire 71st and 72nd floors. A few floors higher is St. Regis’s highest recorded sale to date. In September, a buyer paid nearly $8.74 million for the 5,700-squarefoot condo on the 75th floor. It’s one of seven condos sold so far at St. Regis for $4 million or more. On the other side of the river, six buyers have paid $4 million or more at the extensively rehabbed and expanded Tribune Tower. Crain’s research in county records shows that the Tribune developers, Golub Realty and CIM Group, have delivered 51 of the 151 condos, or 33%. Jeanne Martini, the tower’s sales director, told Crain’s that with pending contracts included, the figure would be “right at 50%.” Martini said that in the week ending Nov. 15, buyers put seven units under contract. That’s in part because a model unit opened a few weeks ago, giving potential buyers a real feel for what the living spaces will be like and, Martini said, “because people walk in and see

DELUXE DELIVERIES Here’s how many condos the developers of two high-profile downtown projects have delivered to buyers. PERCENTAGE OF CONDOS DELIVERED 42%

St. Regis

33%

Tribune

DELIVERED CONDO BREAKDOWN Under $1 million

$1 million to $1.9 million

$2 million to $3.9 million

St. Regis

7 7

40 97 Source: Cook County Recorder of Deeds

what’s been done with this building everyone in Chicago loves, and they’re in awe.” The tower has ample amenity spaces both indoors and out, including an unmatchable terrace in the tower’s crown, with views out through its Gothic frills to the river and skyline. Martini estimated that about one-quarter to one-third of the buyers in the tower so far have been buying units for their second home, and the rest are full-time residents. Out-of-town investor buying has been slim to none, she said.

$4 million and up

Tribune

7 22

Note: All delivery figures are as of Nov. 11.

The majority of the full-timers who’ve bought in the Tribune Tower “are people in the city who are moving up,” Martini said, followed by empty-nesters coming in from the suburbs. “They know they get it all here,” Martini said. That includes not only an A-plus location on Michigan Avenue just off the DuSable Bridge and the broad array of amenities, but commercial neighbors on the ground floor like the Museum of Ice Cream and, just announced in mid-November, the upscale convenience store Foxtrot Market.

Charging stations are key to Pritzker’s push for electric vehicle adoption here funds, as well as $149 million from the federal infrastructure network critical to Pritzker’s clean bill. More is likely to come from energy plan to reduce pollution and spur economic growth by at- a $2.5 billion federal grant protracting research and manufac- gram, but Illinois will have to turing jobs connected to electric compete with other states. Anvehicles. He wants to get in on the other $40 million a year or more land grab that’s underway as auto- from consumer utility bills will be makers shift from fossil-fuel vehi- available to reimburse utilities, cles to EVs over the next decade, such as Commonwealth Edison, helped by billions in infrastruc- for building infrastructure to supture spending from the federal port charging stations. The road ahead offers both risk government. Illinois will have about $400 and reward. “The quicker you million in state and federal funds make the transition, the better,” to beef up its network of vehi- says Adie Tomer, a senior fellow cle-charging stations over the at Brookings Institution. “The next five years. Mitchell says it’s states that move the fastest are likely to be seen as “THE STATES THAT MOVE THE FASTEST the most competitive. It’s going to take ARE LIKELY TO BE SEEN AS THE MOST a decade for us to really get (EVs) into the COMPETITIVE.” household vehicle Adie Tomer, senior fellow, Brookings Institution fleet. The charging infrastructure we crucial “in terms of getting people build today isn’t what will be in to go out and buy electric vehicles place in a decade.” Although the state has pulled — which drives every other part together much of the money and of this (strategy).” The state will rely mostly on the a broad policy for spending it, private sector to build and oper- the details—such as how many ate the chargers. It plans to rebate charging stations, what kind and 80% of the cost to private entities where they’ll be built—haven’t that install them, using $70 mil- been decided. “We know right lion in state capital-improvement now we don’t have enough,” CHARGING from Page 1

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Mitchell says. Illinois has about 900 public charging stations, according to the Department of Energy. That’s in line with peer states, such as Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania, but a fraction of California’s 13,564. “We’re far behind some of the leading states,” says Jason Navota, a director at the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning. “We don’t have nearly enough charging infrastructure to serve the number of EVs we need.” Andrew Barbeau, president of Chicago-based consulting firm Accelerate Group, which worked on the state’s clean energy bill, estimates that Illinois will need roughly 40,000 to 80,000 charging stations to support 1 million electric vehicles.

CHARGING SPEEDS

Not all charging stations are created equal. The most common, so-called Level 2 devices, charge a vehicle over several hours. They typically cost $2,000 to $6,000, Barbeau says. Fast-charging stations that can charge a vehicle in a half-hour or less cost $40,000 to $100,000. Installation expenses add to those costs. Only about 100 of the state’s 900 charging stations have fast

chargers. Barbeau figures Illinois needs 40,000 to 80,000 Level 2 charging stations and 1,700 to 4,500 fast chargers. Using an 80% rebate, it’s possible Illinois could get to the numbers, Barbeau suggests, at a cost of about $450 million. The total price tag could be a half-billion or more. The state will rely heavily on companies, such as ChargePoint, EVgo and Electrify America, which build and operate chargers often found in retail parking lots and parking garages. Justin Wilson, a regional public policy director for ChargePoint, calls the EV transition “the biggest upgrade in the built environment since air conditioning in ’50s, ’60s and ’70s.” The company has installed chargers at several hundred Illinois retailers. “We’ve got crews lined up and ready to go to expedite installation of this infrastructure.” Petroleum giant BP, which operates nearly 700 gas stations in Illinois, says it plans to install EV chargers in the state. The road to widespread EV adoption is littered with political and operational challenges. The state has to make sure the charging network reaches across a state with widely diver-

gent needs, from large cities to rural areas. Drivers are used to the ubiquity and convenience of gas stations, but much of electric vehicle charging will happen at home. That will present challenges in Chicago and other cities. “When people park on the street, that’s going to be a question,” says state Rep. Robyn Gabel, who helped negotiate the clean energy bill. “How do we figure out charging stations for those folks?” Mitchell says the law includes additional rebate incentives above 80% for charging installations in “environmental justice” areas. The process will be overseen by a yet-to-be-named EV czar from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, which will issue rebates and coordinate the charger buildout with the Department of Transportation and the Illinois Commerce Commission, which regulates electric utilities that also will play role. “You are talking about something from a state government point of view that involves multiple agencies that haven’t worked together in the past,” says David Kolata, executive director of the Citizens Utility Board. “We’ve got a good structure. It’s a question of implementation.”

Vol. 44, No. 47 – Crain’s Chicago Business (ISSN 0149-6956) is published weekly, except for the last week in December, at 150 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60601-3806. $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 2021 by Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved.

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