2008 ENTREPRENEURIAL CHAMPION AWARD

J.B. Pritzker
Managing Partner
The Pritzker Group

Mr. Pritzker is Managing Partner of The Pritzker Group, a private investment firm, and founded New World Ventures, one of Chicago’s prominent early-stage information technology investors. A founding board member of the Illinois Venture Capital Association, a founding director of the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center, and an officer of the Young Presidents’ Organization, Mr. Pritzker has been an active proponent of a stronger technology sector focus in the Midwest. He also continues to serve on a variety of other corporate boards.

Crain’s Chicago Business honored Mr. Pritzker with the designation as a business leader in its “40 under 40,” and “Who’s Who of Chicago Business.” The Chicago Sun-Times named him to its “Hot 100” most prominent members of Chicago’s technology economy, and The City Club of Chicago awarded him Citizen of the Year. He received the Humanitarian Award from the Holocaust Memorial Foundation of Illinois for his philanthropic activities, and he was awarded the Spirit of Erikson Institute Award for his work on behalf of early childhood development programs.

As President of the Pritzker Family Foundation, he founded the Children’s Initiative, which funds innovative programs serving children in poverty, and the Pritzker Consortium on Early Childhood Development at the University of Chicago. Mr. Pritzker is a trustee and serves on the investment committee of Northwestern University and is a member of the Board of Governors of the Northwestern University School of Law. He is a Trustee of the Field Museum of Natural History and a member of the Economic Club and the Commercial Club of Chicago. Appointed in 2003 by the Governor of Illinois as Chairman of the Illinois Human Rights Commission, he recently was recognized for his outstanding achievement in reforming the Commission. He was Co-Chairman of the Governor’s Transition Committee for Civil Rights, and as Chairman of the Illinois Holocaust Museum campaign he has led the effort to build the largest Holocaust museum in the Midwest. The new museum is scheduled to open in 2008.

In 1991, Mr. Pritzker founded Democratic Leadership for the 21st Century, a successful national organization dedicated to attracting voters under 40 to the Democratic Party. After serving on the legislative staffs for two United States Senators, for whom he handled issues such as handgun control, he was appointed by the Attorney General of Illinois to serve on the Violent Crime Victims Assistance Advisory Commission and he currently is Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence. In 1995, Mr. Pritzker led a successful petition drive to stop Republicans in Congress from gutting President Clinton’s COPS program, an initiative that put 100,000 new police officers on American streets. Campaigns and Elections magazine named Mr. Pritzker one of the “Rising Stars” of the Democratic Party. In 1998, he ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Congress, principally focusing on the issues of education and gun control. Mr. Pritzker was named “Business Executive of the Year” by the Illinois State Crime Commission for his activities on behalf of crime victims and police officers.

Mr. Pritzker is an attorney and a member of the Illinois and Chicago Bar Associations. He graduated with an A.B. in political science from Duke University and earned his J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law. He lives in Chicago, Illinois with his wife and children.