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J.B. Pritzker

Also Known As Jay Robert "J.B." Pritzker , Pritzker

Governor of Illinois

Education

  • Milton Academy - boarding school in Milton
  • Graduated - Bachelor of Arts in political science - Duke University
  • Juris Doctor - Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law

Overview

Jay Robert "J.B." Pritzker is an American billionaire businessman, philanthropist, and politician serving as the 43rd governor of Illinois since 2019. A member of the wealthy Pritzker family, which owns the worldwide hotel chain Hyatt, Pritzker is based in Chicago and has started several venture capital and investment startups like the Pritzker Group, where he is a managing partner. His estimated personal net worth is $3.6 billion.

Pritzker has been a longtime financial supporter and active member of the Democratic Party. He became the Democratic nominee for governor of Illinois in the 2018 gubernatorial election after winning a crowded primary election. He defeated Republican incumbent Bruce Rauner in the general election on November 6, 2018, and took office on January 14, 2019. Pritzker was reelected in 2022.

Pritzker served as chairman of ChicagoNEXT, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's council on innovation and technology, and he founded 1871, a nonprofit digital start-up incubator (named for the year of the Great Chicago Fire). He played an important role in the creation of the Illinois Venture Capital Association and the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center. He also co-founded Chicago Ventures and funded the start-up of Techstars Chicago and Built in Chicago.

With his brother Tony, Pritzker co-founded Pritzker Group Private Capital, which owns and operates middle-market companies. The group includes a growing family of companies including pallet rental leader PECO Pallet and medical device maker Clinical Innovations. In 2008, the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce gave Pritzker its Entrepreneurial Champion Award for his efforts to promote economic development and job creation

In 1998, Pritzker ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in Illinois's 9th congressional district, spending $500,000 from his personal fortune on television ads in the Chicago market. He finished third among five candidates in the Democratic primary, with 20.48% of the vote to then State Representative Jan Schakowsky's 45.14% and State Senator Howard W. Carroll's 34.40%.

Pritzker founded Democratic Leadership for the 21st Century, a national organization dedicated to attracting voters under the age of 40 to the Democratic Party. He also served on the Washington, D.C., legislative staffs of U.S. Senator Terry Sanford, U.S. Senator Alan J. Dixon, and U.S. Representative Tom Lantos, for whom he handled multiple domestic and international issues.

In the 2008 presidential election, Pritzker served as national co-chairman of Hillary Clinton's campaign. He was a delegate to the 2008 Democratic National Convention and the 2016 Democratic National Convention. He supported Barack Obama in the 2008 general election and helped bring the Clinton and Obama campaigns in Illinois together.

Early Life

Jay Robert "J.B." Pritzker (born January 19, 1965) and raised in Atherton, California, a member of the Pritzker family, a Jewish family prominent in business and philanthropy during the late 20th century. The Pritzkers have consistently been near the top of the Forbes "America's Richest Families" list since its 1982 inception. One of three children of Sue (née Sandel) and Donald Pritzker, his elder siblings are Penny Pritzker, former United States Secretary of Commerce, and Anthony Pritzker. Pritzker is named after both of his father's brothers, Jay and Bob. His grandfather Abe Pritzker was a business lawyer. Pritzker has said that certain overseas trusts, for which he was the designated beneficiary, were set up by his grandfather and used only for charitable contributions, without any personal benefit to him.

Pritzker attended Milton Academy, a boarding school in Milton, Massachusetts, and graduated from Duke University with a Bachelor of Arts in political science. In 1993, he earned his Juris Doctor from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law. He is an attorney and a member of the Illinois State Bar Association and the Chicago Bar Association.

In 1993, Pritzker married Mary Kathryn "M. K." Muenster, whom he had met in Washington, D.C., when she worked as an aide to U.S. Senator Tom Daschle. She is one of three children of Theodore and Karen Muenster. Her father unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate in 1990. They live in Chicago's Gold Coast neighborhood with their two children.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported that Pritzker had purposely caused a mansion he had purchased next door to his home to become uninhabitable by removing its toilets. He then appealed his original property tax assessment because the newly built property was uninhabitable; the Cook County assessor reduced the home's value from $6.25 million to about $1.1 million, which granted Pritzker an 83% property tax reduction, equal to about $230,000 per annum. Federal prosecutors are investigating the matter.

Career

  • Illinois - Governor

Reference

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