Crain's Chicago Business, November 4, 2024 by pensions-and-investments

Return-to-of ce push feels real, but numbers differ

Some big employers are bringing down the hammer on remote work, but most WFH arrangements probably aren’t at risk I

It may feel like corporate America is on the verge of yet another remote work in ection point. e country’s two largest employers just told desk workers to return to the o ce full time, and some big-name business leaders are now predicting an end to WFH practices altogether.

A closer look, however, challenges that narrative. ere is no evidence of o ces suddenly lling. Many employers are actively standing by their current work models. And companies bringing down the hammer

By Jack Grieve

Years of data shows in-of ce activity has remained relatively consistent since November 2022.

City Hall risks millions in fed housing funds

Due to a 2018 affordable housing lawsuit, Chicago may not be eligible for the $7 million in new federal dollars for which it applied

By Dennis Rodkin

The city of Chicago may have made itself ineligible for $7 million in federal housing dollars it applied for last month, because of a long-standing legal battle over housing for people with disabilities.

On Oct. 11, the city submitted a proposal for $7 million in Pathways to Removing Obstacles, or PRO, funds from the federal Department of Housing & Urban Development. e money would be used to “address supply-side barriers to expanding a ordable housing development,” according to a draft of the application that the city made public in late September.

e city would use the money to “streamline coordination between public and private actors” in the a ordable-housing development realm, the draft said, and “stand up a public development vehicle” that will help fund development of mixed-income housing.

But Chicago may not be eligible for the funding.

Since 2018, the city has been

engaged in a legal ght with Access Living, a disability rights group. Access Living alleges the city ignores federal requirements that it con rm a portion of the affordable housing that gets built in the city with federal funds is designed according to disabilityaccess standards. e litigation may disqualify Chicago’s application under HUD rules issued in July that said cities would be ineligible to receive new discretionary funds from the agency if they have “unresolved civil rights matters” that the U.S. Department of Justice has taken a role in. at matches the situation in Chicago, where the DOJ in December issued a statement of interest in Access Living’s suit against the city.

In late September, New Orleans, which is in a similar situation to Chicago’s, disquali ed itself from applying for new discretionary funds from HUD on advice from the city’s legal department.

“If New Orleans isn’t eligible,

Another Advocate exec post moves to North Carolina

It’s the latest leadership role to no longer be based in the Midwest

By Katherine Davis

Advocate Health, the Charlotte, N.C.-based multistate health system that operates 11 Illinois hospitals, has named a new chief nursing o cer.

Betty Jo Rocchio, currently the chief nurse executive at St. Louis-based Mercy, begins the new Advocate role Nov. 11. She re-

places Mary Beth Kingston, who announced earlier this year that she will retire in December after a 45-year nursing career.

As chief nursing o cer, Rocchio will lead more than 42,000 nurses across Advocate Health’s 69 hospitals and 1,000 care locations in Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina, South Carolina and Wisconsin.

Advocate Health, the third-largest nonpro t health system in the U.S., formed in the 2022 merger of Advocate Aurora Health and Atrium Health. Prior to the deal, Advocate Aurora was headquartered in Downers Grove. Now, Advocate Health Care, the Illinois unit of the new system, operates more

Workers staged a walkout to protest Amazon’s RTO policy in 2023. CEO Andy Jassy just announced a new mandate. | BLOOMBERG

Return-to-of ce push feels real, but numbers differ

Some big employers are bringing down the hammer on remote work, but most WFH arrangements probably aren’t at risk I

See WFH on Page 19

By Jack Grieve

Years

of data shows in-of ce activity has remained relatively consistent since November 2022.

City Hall risks millions in fed housing funds

Due to a 2018 affordable housing lawsuit, Chicago may not be eligible for the $7 million in new federal dollars for which it applied

By Dennis Rodkin

But Chicago may not be eligible for the funding.

Since 2018, the city has been

In late September, New Orleans, which is in a similar situation to Chicago’s, disquali ed itself from applying for new discretionary funds from HUD on advice from the city’s legal department.

“If New Orleans isn’t eligible,

Another Advocate exec post moves to North Carolina

It’s the latest leadership role to no longer be based in the Midwest

By Katherine Davis

Advocate Health, the Charlotte, N.C.-based multistate health system that operates 11 Illinois hospitals, has named a new chief nursing o cer.

Betty Jo Rocchio, currently the chief nurse executive at St. Louis-based Mercy, begins the new Advocate role Nov. 11. She re-

CONSUMER PRODUCTS

After making a splash in luxury chocolate, Vosges founder Katrina Markoff preps her next act. PAGE 3

places Mary Beth Kingston, who announced earlier this year that she will retire in December after a 45-year nursing career.

See ADVOCATE on Page 19

MEET

HONOREES FOR 2024 PAGE 9

Workers staged a walkout to protest Amazon’s RTO policy in 2023. CEO Andy Jassy just announced a new mandate. | BLOOMBERG

See CITY HALL on Page 19

Activists aren’t sold on quantum park’s promises

Residents and groups are urging of cials to slow down as the city prepares to sign off on incentive and zoning

By John Pletz

Amalia NietoGomez sat at a table in the Bowen High School gym with an array of cards in front of her, marked red, blue and purple. It was part of a Quantum Game Night aimed at introducing the concepts of quantum computing to students.

Bowen serves the South Side neighborhood where the state of Illinois plans to turn part of the long-ago shuttered U.S. Steel South Works site into a place to build cutting-edge computer technology.

“It was a good start, but it’s not enough,” NietoGomez, executive director of the Alliance of the SouthEast, an umbrella group of community organizations formed in response to various proposals to redevelop the USX site over the

that haven’t produced jobs,” NietoGomez says.

Residents have packed three community meetings held so far to discuss the project. Developer Related Midwest says the meetings “have helped establish a collaborative process through which the voice of the community is included and prioritized from the outset.”

“Related Midwest is supporting a partnership between United Way of Metro Chicago, Claretian Associates and LISC to create a Quality of Life Plan for South Chicago,” the developer adds. “ at process will engage residents and stakeholders in mapping out a vision for neighborhood development and growth.”

The quantum park is the latest development to be targeted by neighborhood activists seeking formal community bene ts agreements.

past decade, says of the event.

e group has been raising concerns about the Illinois Quantum & Microelectronics Park since it was announced, urging elected o cials to slow down the project, which could start construction by the end of the year.

e park will be home to one of the world’s largest cryogenics facilities, which are needed to produce super-cold temperatures necessary for quantum computer equipment.

Silicon Valley-based startup PsiQuantum plans to build the rst commercial-scale quantum computer at the 128-acre site south of 87th Street.

Gov. JB Pritzker hopes it’s just the rst of many companies that will come here to develop the technology, which is still in the experimental stages. e Illinois Quantum & Microelectronics Park is the centerpiece of the state’s $500 million bet that quantum could become a key piece of the Illinois and Chicago economies for decades to come. Pritzker believes the quantum park could attract $20 billion in investment and thousands of jobs from makers of quantum computers and software and their suppliers.

To some residents and groups, such as Alliance of the SouthEast, however, it’s the latest in a long line of promised ways to reinvent the massive 440-acre property and replace a plant that for more than a century was the economic engine of an often-overlooked community tucked between the Chicago Skyway and Lake Michigan, near the Indiana border.

“We’ve had so many proposals

e game night at Bowen was held in conjunction with an annual two-day Quantum Summit at the University of Chicago to introduce students and parents to quantum technology. Such events are “pretty rare,” said Donoven Trice, a 17-year-old senior who was among dozens of students who attended.

He plans to go to trade school to become a mechanic.

Although quantum computing draws on a mix of physics, computing and engineering, a study by the Chicago Quantum Exchange found that more than half the jobs in the nascent eld require a bachelor’s degree or less.

e Alliance for the SouthEast says it plans to seek a community bene ts agreement, or a binding commitment related to the Illinois Quantum & Microelectronics Park.

Among the broad issues, NietoGomez says, are whether local residents will bene t from jobs beyond construction, as well as possible internship programs for local schools. e group is seeking an environmental review, despite the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency nding that the site does not require additional cleanup.

ey’re also worried about potential displacement of residents if property values rise.

Until now, the group hadn’t speci ed even the broad strokes of what such an agreement might include.

Questions about the types of jobs and the impact of the operation of the facilities, such as water intake and discharge from Lake Michigan, also have come up from residents.

“Some of the questions are fair,” Ald. Peter Chico, 10th, whose ward includes part of the site, said during the game night at Bowen High. “A lot of the answers, however, we don’t have yet. ey haven’t built these (facilities) before.”

He’s excited by the prospect of the neighborhood being home to

matters

one of the rst computers of its kind. “Solving the world’s biggest problems is a big deal, and what better place to do that than the 10th Ward?”

Chico also is eager to see some activity at the massive site that closed in 1992. “Nothing has happened there in 32 years.”

e quantum park is the latest development to be targeted by neighborhood activists seeking formal community bene ts agreements that would provide jobs, housing or infrastructure investments. Groups sought a CBA from e Obama Presidential Center, which is being built in Jackson Park. e Obama Foundation declined to sign such an agreement.

e quantum project, announced in July, must receive zoning approval from the city, starting with the Department of Planning & Development, as well as the City Council’s Zoning Committee, and ultimately the full council.

e Economic, Capital & Technology Development Committee must approve $189 million in property tax incentives. It was scheduled to consider the request last week. e full council also must approve the property tax breaks. e tax-incentive question is frequently raised by residents. Cook County is reducing the tax rate on the USX property from 25% to 10% for 30 years. e vacant property currently produces about $40,000 a year in taxes.

According to a city analysis, however, even with the intended

tax break, the property will produce nearly $137.5 million more in revenue over 30 years than it would if left undeveloped. e city alone would receive an additional $31.6 million.

CBAs are intended as a means for residents to make sure they get a share of high-pro le projects that come to their neighborhoods.

“Commitments around local hiring and investment in the surrounding community to support small businesses, local education . . . those are pretty typical things that communities and neighborhoods want,” says David Doig, president of Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives, a nonpro t community real estate developer on the Far South Side.

He says CBAs with a Walmart store, a Method soap factory and Whole Foods distribution center in Pullman focused strategically on job creation and have been e ective.

But CBAs also can carry with them years of pent-up political frustrations, economic wounds and nostalgia for times when neighborhoods far from downtown were lled with jobs and busy thoroughfares lined with lo-

cal businesses.

“Longtime community residents remember when 10,000 people worked (at U.S. Steel), and it was the livelihood of many residents who lived nearby,” Doig says. “ at was also true with Republic Steel and other large employers. You can’t put all that on quantum.

“I hope the community doesn’t try to stop this. I think it’s positive. If this thing really does mature into what they’re thinking it can, and it creates tens of thousands of jobs, there should be intentionality that the surrounding community benets from that.”

Dick Simpson, a former City Council member and political science professor at the University of Illinois Chicago, says CBAs are a relatively recent phenomenon to deal with a long-standing dynamic of public-private developments. “ e fact that so much money is coming from state funding and other tax write-o s suggests there’s a good bit of leverage there,” he says. “Whether they can get anyone to sign a CBA, I’m more doubtful of. Most don’t sign a CBA, but they generally will commit to things in the direction of the CBA.”

Related Midwest is seeking the right to develop as much as 59 million square feet of buildings on the South Works site, beginning with the Illinois Quantum & Microelectronics Park. | LAMAR JOHNSON COLLABORATIVE

Vosges’ founder preps her next act in

luxe chocolate

Having sold Vosges Haut-Chocolat’s assets to an outside investor, Katrina Markoff is set to launch a label she bills as even more high-end than her rst:

Violet Flame I By Web Behrens

The world of luxury candy just got more competitive — but the edgling Chicago-based company entering the market is most notable not for its gourmet confections but for its founder. Entrepreneur and chef Katrina Marko , who built Vosges Haut-Chocolat into a confectionery industry juggernaut, has left the company she started in order to launch Violet Flame Chocolate.

e split stems, in part, from Marko ’s drive to continue to innovate. “I don’t want to do the same thing; I want to do something even better,” she says in an exclusive interview with Crain's. Her drive to experiment means working on a smaller scale — a goal that became at odds with a company as big as Vosges.

Massive Wacker Drive tenant holds rm on of ce space

PricewaterhouseCoopers is keeping all of its workspace and tacking another decade onto its lease, bucking the downsizing trend

By Danny Ecker

e biggest tenant at a Wacker Drive o ce skyscraper is keeping all of its workspace and tacking a decade onto its lease, bucking the space-shedding trend that has been emptying out downtown o ce buildings.

PricewaterhouseCoopers, one of the so-called Big Four accounting rms, has signed a 10year extension of its lease for 282,577 square feet at 1 N. Wacker Drive, the company and building owner Irvine conrmed. e professional services giant's commitment to the tower now runs through October 2038. e renewal is one of the largest downtown o ce recommitments in the past several years and stands out at a time when many companies — particularly larger ones like PwC — are shrinking their o ce footprints as they adapt to the pandemicfueled rise of remote work. Such space cutbacks have been the primary culprit in a downtown o ce market that has lost 1.8 million square feet of tenants since 2020 and sent the o ce vacancy rate in the central business district to record highs for 10 of the past 11 quarters.

PwC recently looked like it might add to the run of big rms reducing their workspace after news broke in September that it would lay o around 1,800 workers — 2.5% of its global workforce — though the rm declined to comment on how those cuts have impacted its Chicago o ce. e opportunity to slash its o ce

space was there: e company had an imminent option to terminate its lease earlier than its 2028 expiration, a chance to restructure its o ce footprint to accommodate post-pandemic work patterns.

But after analyzing how often its roughly 4,000 Chicago-based employees have been using the eight- oor Wacker Drive o ce, local PwC leaders realized they still needed all of it, said Laura onn, managing partner of the rm's Chicago o ce.

The renewal stands out at a time when many companies — particularly larger ones like PwC — are shrinking their of ce footprints.

“We really have so many people coming in that we need (all of) that space to continue to support our people,” onn said. One factor, she noted: e practice of desk-sharing, or “hoteling,” that has become more commonplace in o ces since the public health crisis already had a long history at PwC.

“It wasn't going from everyone having speci c desks and downsizing into the hoteling model. at had always been part of our design, given the way we work

Latest sale at Tribune Tower shows rocky road to condos

The condo went for about $2.5 million less than the developers originally wanted for it

By Dennis Rodkin

e buyers who paid $4.37 million for a condominium at the former home of the Chicago Tribune last month saved more than $2.5 million by not picking it up two years ago, when the Gothic skyscraper’s redevelopers rst put the unit on the market.

e four-bedroom unit on the North Michigan Avenue landmark’s 23rd oor came on the market in February 2022, priced at $6.9 million.

e drop, about 37%, is the latest evidence that putting condos in a handsome, beloved tower

right at the beating heart of the Near North Side hasn’t been the slam dunk that it once might have seemed.

ree years after the model units opened, the building is 77% sold, with 37 of its 162 condos still to sell. Plans for a second, taller tower that was proposed in 2018 for a surface lot east of the Tribune Tower zzled, reappeared brie y in 2023, then zzled again. And one buyer’s attempt to resell his unit for $8 million in 2023 went nowhere, and the condo went o the market unsold.

e trouble with Tribune, says Phil Skowron, an @properties

Christie’s International Real Estate agent, much of whose work is in the upper-end condo mar-

ket, is “product versus price. If you want to get the prices they’re asking in Chicago’s market, you

have to be perfect in every way.”

Among the dings that detract from perfection, Skowron says, is “you’re not a Gold Coast location with Cartier and Chanel on the corners next to you. You’re in a high-tra c location that doesn’t have the feel of an upscale residential neighborhood to it.”

As originally priced, the justsold 4,185-square-foot condo would have nabbed about $1,649 a square foot. It sold for about $1,044 a foot. Two other multimillion-dollar units that sold this year got similar per-square-foot prices. A $3.9 million sale in June works out to $1,156 a foot. A $3 million sale, also in June, was $894 a foot.

Three years after model units opened in the Tribune Tower, the building is 77% sold, with 37 of its 162 condos still to sell. | DENNIS RODKIN

Katrina Markoff

A raspberry truf e

Gianduia chocolates feature hazelnuts imported from Piemonte, Italy, and retail at $50 for a 16-piece box.

Lion’s mane mushrooms and the Violet Flame truf es that feature them as a key ingredient

VIOLET FLAME

See CHOCOLATE on Page 20 See OFFICE SPACE on Page 20

Company that shut Chicago steel tube plant sues Mexico

By John Pletz

e owner of a Chicago-based steel company has sued the Mexican government over claims that companies there are ooding the U.S. market with cheap product.

Zekelman Industries led the suit Oct. 21 in federal court in Washington, D.C., for breach of contract in violating the United StatesMexico-Canada Agreement trade deal that replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement in 2020.

turing facilities and employs more than 3,200 workers, including 260 at a conduit factory in Rochelle, south of Rockford.

Normally, foreign governments cannot be sued in U.S. courts, but there are exceptions.

Zekelman recently closed Wheatland Tube, an electrical conduit factory on the Southwest Side, eliminating 237 jobs.

e company says in its lawsuit that imports of steel conduit from Mexico nearly quadrupled to more than $50 million a year, starting in 2020. However, because of deliberate mischaracterization of items imported, the company says the true volume could be up 500% to 700%.

“We’ve lost market share. We’ve closed plants. We’ve had to get rid of workers,” says company CEO Barry Zekelman. “It’s terrible.” In addition to Wheatland Tube, Zekelman closed a factory in Long Beach, Calif., two years ago.

e company says it’s the largest manufacturer of electrical conduit in North America, with about 50% market share. It has 20 manufac-

“Although Mexico entered the 2019 Agreement as a sovereign, Mexico has breached the agreement in its capacity as a commercial actor,” the lawsuit says.

Zekelman contends Mexico is a majority owner of several large steel manufacturers there and “stands to gain substantial bene ts by helping companies evade the 2018 tari s, and then turning around and dumping steel into the U.S. market.”

Tim Meyer, a professor of international law at Duke University, says Zekelman is unlikely to succeed.

“ is isn’t really a contract. It’s an agreement between two states,” he says. “Normally trade agreements aren’t enforceable by third parties.”

He adds that trade agreements have a well-established mechanism outside the courts for enforcement, which wouldn’t include damages for Zekelman.

“ e aim of this lawsuit is to get damages directly from Mexico,” Meyer says. “I don’t think I’ve seen this exact type of claim before.”

Zekelman acknowledges the lawsuit is a novel approach but is

undeterred.

“I don’t know if others have tried it,” he says. “ at didn’t matter to me. I have to try everything. I’m a ghter. I’m not going to give up.”

In addition to the lawsuit, the company says it also led a petition with the U.S. O ce of Homeland Security to compel it to use the O ce of Trade Relations to enforce trade agreements between the U.S. and Mexico.

“ e U.S government is not protecting the American worker and American business the way they agreed to,” says Zekelman, who is a Canadian citizen, although his brother, who also is a partner in the business, is a U.S. citizen. “We’re not going to take it anymore, and we’re going to see where it goes.”

Neither the U.S. nor Mexican governments responded to requests for comment.

Campaign issue

Trade and tari s have become a hot topic in the presidential campaign of former President Donald Trump, who said Oct. 15

during an interview at the Economic Club of Chicago that he would impose tari s of 100% or more to keep companies from going to Mexico rather than manufacturing products for the U.S. market in the United States.

In an interview, Zekelman says he believes that companies from China and India are setting up shop in Mexico to nish products made with imported steel to avoid tari s.

“ e problem is products made from steel that are transformed and not subject to the tari s coming in (to the U.S),” he says, pointing to hydraulic cylinders for heavy equipment as an example.

e company says it has not had any contact with the Trump administration about the lawsuit.

During Trump’s presidency, the U.S. imposed a 25% tari on steel imports, but Mexico and other companies soon negotiated exemptions, Zekelman says.

“Mexico agreed to jointly implement measures that would limit steel exports to historical levels,” the lawsuit says. “Mexico

has not honored its end of the bargain. Instead, it is actively violating the terms of the 2019 Agreement. Almost immediately after Mexico entered the 2019 Agreement, the level of Mexican steel exports to the U.S. skyrocketed.”

In its suit, the company is seeking unspeci ed damages and enforcement of the 2019 trade agreement.

“ ey’ve gone eightfold over the level of imports they agreed to,” Zekelman says. “What we want is either those quotas to be imposed, which would be the best thing, and/or duties reimposed on the product because they violated the agreement.”

Even if Zekelman succeeds in court, however, it won’t save Wheatland Tube at 4435 S. Western Blvd.

“I’ve sold the property because we’re done,” he says. “It’s over.”

But Illinois still has a stake in the outcome.

“We have an excellent plant in Rochelle,” he says. “It’s Custer’s last stand. If that plant disappears, you might as well kiss America goodbye.”

By Pawan Naidu

As True Value tries to win approval to sell “substantially all” of its business operations to Indiana-based home improvement competitor Do It Best, the Chicago-based retailer says it could lay o a considerable portion of its workforce if the deal doesn't come together.

True Value is voluntarily entering into Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, which, according to the company, will assist in executing the sale in an e cient manner. Court lings show Do It Best o ered to buy the company for $153 million.

“After a thorough evaluation of strategic alternatives, we determined that the sale of our busi-

ness was the path forward to maximize value and best serve our retail partners and other stakeholders into the future,”

True Value CEO Chris Kempa said in a statement.

True Value said in WARN notice lings that nearly 900 employees may be laid o if the Do It Best deal falls through, the Chicago Tribune reports. e lings specify that job cuts could impact True Life's o ces at 8600 W. Bryn Mawr Ave. in Chicago, which house a retail support center and corporate employees.

“While we remain committed to successfully completing the Chapter 11 sale process, we are notifying you of actions that True Value may need to take if we do not close the proposed sale to (Do

It Best) and identify other buyers,” a company spokesperson wrote in the state lings.

e company also said it would have to lay o employees at a manufacturing facility in Cary and

at two facilities in Harvard. e majority of the a ected workers are merchandise handlers. e layo s in Illinois account for nearly half of the company's entire workforce. In court lings,

True Value stated it had a total of 1,950 employees, with approximately 1,300 in warehouse, distribution and manufacturing positions.

e deal with Do It Best would provide "signi cant cash consideration and meaningful assumption of liabilities,” according to True Value's announcement.

Do It Best has agreed to hire certain True Value employees as part of the potential deal. e lings, however, did not disclose a speci c number of employees to be brought on. True Value is asking the court to designate Do it Best as the “stalking horse,” or lead bidder, and initiate a bidding process.

e sale process is expected to close by the end of the year. roughout the proceedings, True Value will maintain its dayto-day operations at all of its 4,500 retail locations.

Barry Zekelman

Zekelman recently closed Wheatland Tube, an electrical conduit factory on the Southwest Side, eliminating 237 jobs. | GOOGLE

Northwestern establishes Alzheimer’s research

hub with $25M gift from Mills family members

Work at the center will focus on creating a suite of AI tools that allow neuroscientists to interrogate the genes and cells affected by the disease

By Katherine Davis

A $25 million gift from one of Chicago's wealthiest dynasties to Northwestern Medicine has established a neurogenomics center at its a liated university that will use arti cial intelligence to identify new insights and drug candidates that can help treat Alzheimer's disease.

Wendy and Jim Abrams, members of the Mills family, which ceded control of its medical supplies manufacturer giant Medline in a blockbuster deal in 2021, contributed the funds through their Eleven Eleven Foundation.

e donation created the Abrams Research Center on Neurogenomics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, which opened Oct. 4 on Northwestern’s downtown campus in Streeterville.

e center is led by David Gate, a neurology professor at Feinberg. Gate established an independent research lab at Northwestern University in 2021, where he’s since studied the application of genomics tools to Alzheimer’s patients, cells and tissues.

Work at his new center will focus on creating a suite of AI tools,

datasets and analysis methods that allow neuroscientists to interrogate the genes and cell types affected by Alzheimer's disease. e goal is to identify drug candidates for Alzheimer’s patients, said Gate, who has studied Alzheimer’s and neurodegenerative diseases for most of his career.

“I'm interested in how (current Alzheimer's) drugs lead to side effects . . . which are a major hindrance to giving them out en masse,” Gate said. “We're interested in whether the immune response to these drugs contributes to those side e ects.”

To do so, Gate and his team will integrate AI, computational approaches and other leading-edge genomics technologies to analyze huge datasets of Alzheimer’s patient gene samples.

“ e datasets become sort of incomprehensibly large, and so applying computer power and statistical tools to those datasets becomes really important,” Gate said.

e Abrams Research Center, which has a 15-person sta , is also in the process of establishing strategic collaborations with AI companies, pharmaceutical makers and other universities, Gate said.

Coors Light returning to the Super Bowl

By Jon Springer, Ad Age

Coors Light will run a Super Bowl ad in 2025, marking the third straight appearance for the beer brand that had been shut out of the Big Game for more than 30 years by rival Anheuser-Busch InBev. e Super Bowl ad “will bring a new take” on the brand’s “Choose Chill” platform, said So a Colucci, chief marketing o cer of Coors Light parent Molson Coors, in a statement. Molson Coors did not say which agency it would work with on the ad, how long it would be or when it would air during the Feb. 9 game on Fox.

It has been a sluggish year for beer sales, with Coors Light volume down by 3% and industry volume down 3.4% in o -premise channels through the rst nine months of the year, according to Nielsen IQ gures cited by Beer Marketer’s Insights. Coors Light is also lapping the positive e ects of last year’s Dylan Mulvaney episode a ecting rival Bud Light. Molson Coors brands had been prevented from advertising in the Super Bowl broadcast for years due to a longstanding exclusivity arrangement between broadcast net-

e center re ects a growing interest by the health care sector and donors to use AI technologies to study and develop treatments for common diseases. Over the summer, billionaire hedge fund founder Ken Gri n donated $10 million to Northwestern Medicine to support an esophageal disease treatment center that would harness arti cial intelligence.

e gift to the Abrams Research Center on Neurogenomics will be distributed over the next ve years, Gate said. e donor, environmentalist Wendy Abrams, is a fourth-generation member of the

works and Anheuser-Busch InBev, a strategy AB InBev abandoned following the 2022 Super Bowl. Coors Light was featured along with Blue Moon and Miller Lite in Molson Coors’ “High-Stakes Beer Ad” in 2023. In 2024, “ e Return of the Coors Light Chill Train” brought an old advertising vehicle back to life. Both of those ads came from Droga5.

Jon Springer writes for Crain's sister brand Ad Age.

Mills family and sister of former Medline President Andy Mills. She is an alumna of Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and a university board trustee, according to the university's website. She also took part in establishing the Abrams Environmental Law Clinic at the University of Chicago Law School in 2011.

Her husband, Jim Abrams, was COO of Medline until he and Andy Mills stepped down from their posts last year. e Mills family was on the receiving end of one of the single-biggest liquidity events of all

time when the family sold a 79% stake in their medical-goods supplier to a consortium of private-equity rms in a transaction that valued the company at about $32 billion. e family has maintained a minority stake in Medline.

"We are thrilled to support the world-class research team at Northwestern Medicine,” Wendy and Jim Abrams said in a press release announcing the new center. “ rough collaboration and technological innovation, we are optimistic that their e orts will bring us closer to nding a cure in the near future.”

Chicago’s Economy: Local Insights to Guide the Year Ahead

Don't miss this new approach to economic research with exclusive data-driven insights for labor supply and consumer demand across greater Chicagoland, industry-specific productivity updates, and important opportunities and ideas to enhance growth.

Wednesday, November 20 | 7:15 to 9:30 a.m. University Club of Chicago, 76 E. Monroe Street Cathedral Hall - 9th Floor

BREAKFAST EVENT FOR BUSINESS EXECUTIVES FEATURING:

Jeff Korzenik, Chief Economist Fifth Third Commercial Bank

Gerald Cohen, Chief Economist UNC Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise

MODERATED BY:

Jim Kirk, Group Publisher, Crain’s Chicago Business

LL Cool J played the conductor of the Coors Light Chill Train in a Super Bowl 2024 ad. COORS LIGHT

Here’s whose interests are really served in the mayor’s 2025 budget

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s $17.3 billion budget for 2025 says a lot, as all budgets do. It not only tells a tale of how his administration plans to spend public money during the year ahead. It also illuminates whose interests are being honored in the process — and you can be con dent taxpayers are at the bottom of that particular list.

Johnson’s budget, which next moves to the City Council, relies on a $300 million property tax hike as well as raiding the city’s economic development funding to try to close a nearly $1 billion shortfall. In total, the 2025 proposal is 3% bigger than the 2024 budget.

As Crain’s Justin Laurence points out, Johnson’s budget faces an uphill battle in a City Council weary of property tax debates and increasingly hostile to the Fifth Floor. But by avoiding the brawl with city unions that would inevitably ensue if real layo s were contemplated, Johnson hopes to walk a narrow path to the 26 votes needed to gain passage.

us the property tax hike, a reversal of a key campaign pledge and a politically perilous remedy for a problem that could be seen coming from a mile away.

e budget de cit City Hall is now grappling with was eminently predictable, and yet the mayor and his team did little to prepare for it. To be sure, Johnson asked his department heads earlier this fall to model layo scenarios in a theoretical bid to close the budget gap, but little of that exercise is apparently re ected in the nal plan. In-

stead, the proposed budget calls for freezing empty positions — one of a budgeteer’s most facile maneuvers, and one that proved especially porous at City Hall. As WBEZ reported on Oct. 29, the city has hired or promoted 490 employees in the six weeks since the mayor announced a hiring freeze in early September.

Most taxpayers understand taxes in and of themselves are a fact of life, and they almost always go up. What they don’t appreciate, however, is when public o cials can’t provide believable assurances that

every dollar that comes their way is spent wisely. In the absence of such assurances, they’re never happy to be asked for more.

And yet, the mayor contends that to shrink headcount in any way beyond the freezes he’s put in place would leave vulnerable neighborhoods on the South and West sides without the police and re protection they deserve. We’re asked to believe there are no other choices than to raise taxes on property — and if that means homeowners and small businesses trying to get by in those very neighborhoods have

to pick up the tab, well, so be it. It’s tempting to say no one is really in charge on the Fifth Floor nowadays, but that’s not entirely true. If you have to wonder whose interests are being served, who’s calling the shots, wonder no more: What’s driving all this is the unions who helped put Johnson and a large swath of the City Council into o ce. e unions’ priorities become City Hall’s priorities. And it’s within this environment that truly wild things can and do happen, things like the mass resignation of the Board of Education, followed by the hasty rollout of a slate of replacements willing to do what the mayor and his friends at the Chicago Teachers Union want.

e only quali cation that truly mattered in selecting these board candidates, evidently, was their willingness to jettison the CEO of Chicago Public Schools and borrow to ll a massive budget gap, per the union’s desires. Any other aspects of the school board appointees’ bios — including, sadly, the quite public antisemitic, misogynistic and conspiratorial sentiments of Johnson’s proposed school board president, Mitchell Ikenna Johnson — failed to receive any serious scrutiny, judging by his hurried resignation.

Whether it’s at Chicago Public Schools or at City Hall, we’re seeing what life is like when the people who are supposed to be looking out for all of Chicago — including businesses, homeowners and taxpayers — come to the table and take a seat on the same side as the unions.

New data centers aren’t the dream they may seem to be

One of the lessons from the pandemic has to do with the new three Rs — reserves, redundancy and resilience.

During the pandemic, we paid a price for our decades of reliance on fragile and foreign supply chains driven by the gospel of just-in-time everything, as well as an in nite consumer desire for an abundance of cheaply made and readily disposable goods.

We were left with bare shelves, empty-handed workers with nothing to assemble, layo s, and ultimately a shattered economy. It became increasingly obvious that onsite and nearby storage and availability of all manner of materials, inventory, and supplies is essential to avoid similar problems in the future.

In response to the pandemic, Amazon and other mass merchandisers began a national program to build additional, enormous, well-stocked, and strategically

located warehouses. ese distribution centers are typically located close to, but carefully outside of, major urban centers (except in New York, where a major facility is located in Staten Island). Proximity to huge populations of Prime customers is crucial, but dodging the pitfalls and the extortionate politics of our major U.S. cities was equally critical.

Collar counties and small exurban cities are ideal and welcoming targets for these mammoth facilities, which promise to bring hundreds, if not thousands, of jobs. By and large, with some occasional whining about the associated truck tra c, these burgs are happy to have Amazon and others as their big new neighbors and employers, especially because there appeared to be no economic or environmental downsides. Funding for social projects, schools, and other local govern-

ment initiatives also helped to smooth the path for these facilities.

A new and far more problematic wave of development, modeled on Amazon, is gathering speed across the U.S., which communities have endorsed and supported based on their prior assumptions and overall positive experiences with the DCs.

But this new activity — the building of self-standing and substantial data centers — is a far di erent and more complicated undertaking. Data centers come with nearterm and potentially far-reaching environmental and other adverse consequences. ese buildings and campuses are remarkably energy- and water-hungry facilities.

Everyone hears Chicken Little stories about the evils of AI, but in terms of the general public’s awareness, these tales are almost exclusively focused on the generative content created by the large language modules that support the processing.

Very few civilians and almost no city or state regulatory authorities have any real understanding of the ancillary costs in

terms of power requirements, water consumption, and carbon footprint that these facilities will spawn. Common agreement — while noting that there are varying methodologies and measurement approaches — is that an AI inquiry takes many times more compute (power) than a comparable Google search does. e companies proposing and building these centers are making representations about control, remediation, and elimination with far-distant time frames, which are speculative at best and most likely unrealistic in any event. Meta’s DeKalb data center is a good example. Its plant envelope is about 2.4 million square feet and cost about $1 billion to construct. Meta claims that it will support several hundred jobs when fully operational, has provided more than $1 million in direct funding to local schools and nonpro ts, and has made more than 60 grants and sponsorships for other community organizations and programs.

At the same time, the company notes

Howard Tullman is a serial entrepreneur and venture capitalist based in Chicago.

e solution to kratom dangers isn’t a ban, it’s federal regulation

In recent months, Chicago suburbs Tinley Park and Des Plaines have been among local governments across the country enacting bans on kratom, a substance experiencing massive growth in popularity. e moves come in response to concerns about its safety. All this legislative activity is wreaking havoc on business owners as they constantly try to adjust to new laws.

My position on this often surprises people. As I explained on the podcast " ey Stand Corrected," I’m CEO of a business that sells products made with kratom. And I support regulation. But the solution is not for local o cials to wrestle with this on their own. It’s for the federal government to step in. It’s time for the FDA to regulate kratom.

Understanding kratom

Kratom comes from a plant in Southeast Asia. Its leaves have been used in traditional medicine for centuries. As Crain’s Chicago Business has reported, “It’s known to be an energy booster, mood enhancer and pain reliever.”

Veterans use it to treat PTSD, and some with disabilities use it to manage pain. e University of Florida College of Pharmacy found that “kratom could be a prime treatment option for opioid dependence.” But it can also have opioid-like properties and

that it “expects” to be “water positive” by 2030 (at which point the project will restore more water than it consumes). Meta also notes that its global operations have reached net-zero emissions. Needless to say, there are no remedies or redos for missing any of these objectives, and no regulatory tools to enforce or assure compliance — or even progress — in the interim.

Aurora is another city that has quietly become the home for a number of co-located data centers for major rms such as CME Group and Google Cloud, which are constructing multiple buildings to house trading systems.

Edged Energy — a division of Endeavour — is another national data center builder and operator that is building a new net-zero waterless data center campus in Aurora. And nally, Amazon itself has two ful llment centers in Aurora with about 1,000 employees. e bottom line is an exciting and very mixed blessing for smaller cities where no one can o er anything more concrete than their best guesses as to the long-term environmental concerns of the new technologies being tested and implemented.

bad side e ects. It “can be addictive,” Medscape reported recently from Chicago. Kratom should remain legal so that those who bene t from it can use it. But there should be strict controls in place to protect consumers — and to strengthen businesses.

Rapidly expanding market

As of last year, the global market for kratom was estimated at about $1.9 billion. It’s expected to reach a whopping $5.7 billion

by 2030. Cities with kratom businesses built to last are more likely to create jobs in the industry and bring in revenues for the long term.

In this case, federal regulations will help the industry grow. If the industry remains an unregulated “wild west,” unscrupulous business owners will be able to continue selling dangerous products. That will turn people off to products derived from kratom in general, and will make future bans more likely.

If the FDA classifies kratom as a supplement, it can create national standards, safety checks, labeling demands, age requirements and more. People will be able to trust what they’re buying, and will have information about the risks.

This will help protect the nation’s health and relieve local officials of having to figure this out on their own.

A study of kratom products in the Chicago area showed how widely they vary. “All but two of

the samples tested positive for the presence of various microbes including bacteria and fungi,” the team from Midwestern University found. The data collected also indicated that kratom products “can contain significant levels of toxic metals.”

The researchers argued for “more stringent standards for the production and sale of kratom products.”

The FDA should move quickly. A new classification could make a world of difference.

Ryan Niddel is CEO of MIT45 in Salt Lake City.

Lettuce Entertain You exec behind Maggiano’s, Di Pescara selling Lincoln Park mansion

Mark Tormey, who rst joined Rich Melman’s budding restaurant empire in 1979 and now runs several of its restaurants here, and his wife are asking $7.45 million for the home |

By Dennis Rodkin

Alongtime Lettuce Entertain You executive who shepherded the Maggiano’s Little Italy brand and over the course of 45 years has been involved with Jonathan Livingston Seafood, the Pump Room, Di Pescara and others in the restaurant company’s stable put his Lincoln Park mansion on the market at $7.45 million.

Mark Tormey, an executive partner at Lettuce Entertain You, and his wife, Carol Tormey, put the house up for sale Oct. 24. ey built the house in 2001 on a large lot — 9,000 square feet, compared to the city norm of 3,125 — on Orchard Street a few doors north of Oz Park.

Crain’s could not reach the Tormeys for comment, and the home’s listing agent, Emily Sachs Wong of @properties Christie’s International Real Estate, did not respond to a request for comment. Cook County records do not make clear what the Tormeys paid for the lot where they built the house.

e home’s three-story facade emulates a classic Chicago greystone, with a mix of rough and smooth stone, arches and pillars. Inside the roughly 8,000-square-foot house are six bedrooms, a living room with windows on three sides, and a large family room paired with an open kitchen.

e family room and dining room open onto a big covered side porch that leads to the yard, most of which runs beside the house instead of behind. Amenities in the yard include a half-

court outdoor basketball court.

Mark Tormey started working for Rich Melman’s restaurant group in 1979 and became a partner ve years later.

At the turn of the century when the couple built the Orchard Street house, Tormey was in the middle of a 10-year hiatus from Lettuce Entertain You as president of the Maggiano’s Little Italy chain Lettuce had sold to Brinker International in 1995 when there were three restaurants. At Brinker, according to Tormey’s online bio, he grew Maggiano’s to 47 restaurants nationwide with sales of $450 million.

In 2005, Tormey re-enlisted with Lettuce. He now runs Di Pescara at the Northbrook Court mall, a concept he developed, as well as Petterino’s and Do-Rite Donuts in the Loop, the Ivy Room in River North and Saranello’s in Wheeling.

e Tormey house comes in as the second-highest-priced existing single-family home, behind a 13,400-square-footer on Kenmore that has been on the market since February at nearly $10 million.

e home is in the same core Lincoln Park area as the Chicago metro area’s two highest-priced homes of the year to date.

It’s about three blocks from the top-priced home of 2024, a palatial Burling Street mansion that sold for $15.25 million in August, and about six blocks from a substantial home on Dickens Avenue that went for $14.25 million in October.

NOTABLE HEALTH CARE LEADERS

From giant hospital systems to small businesses, our latest group of leaders represent all facets of the Chicago-area health care sector.

METHODOLOGY: The individuals featured did not pay to be included. This list, which is not comprehensive, includes only individuals for whom nominations were submitted and accepted after a review by editors. To qualify for the list, nominees must work for a health care or related company or organization; have at least 10 years of experience in their eld; and demonstrate signi cant accomplishments within their industry, professional organizations, and civic and community groups. They must live and work in the Chicago area. Their pro les were written from the nomination materials submitted. Some of the pro les in this feature were written with the assistance of generative AI based on provided information. Honorees can appear in only one Notables feature per calendar year.

Guillermo Amezcua

Americas regional president

Baxter International

Scope of work: Amezcua leads Baxter’s Americas Kidney Care team, supporting health care providers and patients with lifesaving care for end-stage kidney failure and other vital organ treatments. His team delivers millions of treatments annually, backed by innovative products, digital services and operational reach.

Biggest professional win: In 2023, he uni ed ve Baxter teams into a single organization, improving patient care and accelerating results through strategic alignment. Growth in patients served and treatments delivered has increased each quarter since the rollout.

Other contributions: Amezcua serves on several boards, including the Center for Healthcare Innovation’s Health Equity Programming Committee. He was also part of the Illinois Community Leadership Board for the American Diabetes Association from 2017 to 2022.

Rany Aburashed

Corporate chief medical of cer and chief of sub-specialty services

Insight Health System

Scope of work: Dr. Aburashed oversees clinical strategy across all Insight Health System locations, leading the development and management of a network of 400 physicians. His leadership contributed to the launch of 47 new clinical service lines at Chicago facilities between 2021 and 2022.

Biggest professional win: Under his guidance, Insight acquired Chicago’s oldest hospital, Mercy Hospital, which now operates as Insight Hospital & Medical Center, with 414 beds and expanded services including the Brain & Spine Institute.

Other contributions: Dr. Aburashed is founder and CEO of Neurogen Biomarking, which focuses on diagnostic advancements for Alzheimer’s and multiple sclerosis. Set to launch in 2025, it holds exclusive rights in Asia, Europe and the U.S. and has formed strategic partnerships with several private equity-backed rms.

Mark Anderson

Executive vice president for medical affairs

University of Chicago

Scope of work: Dr. Anderson — also dean of the biological sciences division and dean of the Pritzker School of Medicine — leads over 13,000 faculty, students and staff, overseeing medical research, education, care delivery and community engagement. He drives the growth of UChicago Medicine, integrating academic, research and clinical programs to enhance community health and equity.

Biggest professional win: He spearheaded initiatives including the construction of an $815 million cancer pavilion, a multispecialty care center in Indiana, and partnerships with AdventHealth and City Colleges of Chicago.

Other contributions: Dr. Anderson is a member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians and the National Academy of Medicine. His research on heart failure and arrhythmias contributed to developing new therapies.

Christine Achre Founder and CEO

Community Health Solutions Group

Scope of work: Achre founded Community Health Solutions Group to help small and midsize organizations boost revenue by enhancing services and delivering tailored behavioral health solutions. Her team of eight provides clinical and strategic advisory services, credentialing, compliance and executive coaching.

Biggest professional win: She led her team in providing advisory services to The Boulevard, Chicago’s only inpatient medical respite center for unhoused people. Their work resulted in The Boulevard’s certi cation as a Behavioral Health Clinic, expanding Medicaid reimbursement opportunities and enhancing patient care.

Other contributions: Achre recently delivered a “Master Class on Trauma-Informed Care” for Homeless Link UK. She has served on the boards of South Side Health, Chicago Continuum of Care and Canine Therapy Corps.

Tesa Anewishki

President and CEO

Loretto Hospital

Scope of work: Anewishki leads an acute-care safety-net facility serving Austin and other West Side communities. She manages operations for 20 primary care and specialty clinics, oversees a team of more than 500 and controls a $79 million budget. Anewishki advocates for health equity, particularly in underserved African American communities.

Biggest professional win: Serving as CEO for the past two years, Anewishki has stabilized hospital operations and restored trust with patients and the community.

Other contributions: Anewishki serves on the executive boards of Wellness West Chicago, Collaborative Bridges, and Westside Community Stakeholders. She is the board chair of Feather st, a nonpro t supporting the homeless, and is a member of the National Association of Health Services Executives.

Asima Ahmad

Co-founder and chief medical of cer

Carrot Fertility

Scope of work: Dr. Ahmad leads clinical strategy, overseeing a global network of 11,000 health care professionals and Carrot’s telehealth program. Her work focuses on breaking down barriers to fertility, family-building and hormonal health care access.

Biggest professional win: Under her leadership, Carrot has expanded services, improving outcomes like reducing C-section rates by 31% and lowering NICU visits by 32%. The platform supports various journeys, including IVF, surrogacy, adoption and menopause care.

Other contributions: In addition to her work at Carrot, Dr. Ahmad practices as a reproductive endocrinologist in Chicago. She supports organizations such as the Illinois Muslim Civic Coalition and the Civic Health Alliance. Dr. Ahmad provides guidance to families and individuals seeking fertility solutions, including cancer patients and LGBTQ+ couples.

Robert Barish

Vice chancellor for health affairs, professor of emergency medicine

University of Illinois Chicago

Scope of work: Vice chancellor since 2016, Dr. Barish oversees UI Health, which includes a hospital, over 40 care locations and 11 Federally Quali ed Health Centers. He leads the academic and research activities of UIC’s seven health sciences colleges and supervises seven deans.

Biggest professional win: Under his leadership, UI Health completed the $220 million Specialty Care Building and new hospital atrium in 2022, expanding advanced care services, including transplant services, urology and gastroenterology.

Other contributions: Dr. Barish serves on the board of the Association of American Medical Colleges and co-chairs the Medical Community Luncheon for the Scouts of America. He chaired the University of Illinois System COVID-19 Planning & Response Team.

Amina Ahmed

Director of the Rush MD Anderson Cancer Center

Rush University System for Health

Scope of work: Dr. Ahmed leads a partnership that provides Rush patients access to world-class cancer treatments and research. She oversaw the integration of care protocols between Rush and MD Anderson, ensuring that patients receive identical treatment plans and can participate in an expanded number of clinical trials.

Biggest professional win: She successfully directed the establishment of the Rush MD Anderson Cancer Center in 2024, a partnership that took over four years to nalize.

Other contributions: Dr. Ahmed has led initiatives to screen cancer patients for social needs, addressing disparities in cancer outcomes. She has also championed efforts to increase minority participation in clinical trials at Rush.

Shelly Berkowitz

Founder and executive chairwoman

BrightStar Care

Scope of work: Berkowitz founded BrightStar Care in 2002, expanding it into a national network offering home health care and medical staf ng services. The company has over 400 locations across 40 states, employing 15,000 caregivers and 5,700 registered nurses.

Biggest professional win: She positioned BrightStar Care as a premium provider of home care by achieving Joint Commission accreditation for its network and commissioning major health care studies. She has been featured in two Harvard Business case studies and on CBS’ “Undercover Boss.”

Other contributions: Berkowitz was named one of the top 25 highest-rated CEOs during the COVID-19 crisis by Glassdoor and won the 2023 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Midwest Award. She also endows a franchise certi cate program at her alma mater.

Jay Bhatt

Managing director, Center for Health Solutions & Health Equity Institute

Deloitte Services

Scope of work: Dr. Bhatt drives research and collaborations to advance health equity and provide actionable insights for the health care industry. He’s on the Deloitte Purpose Of ce leadership team and practices medicine for underserved populations.

Biggest professional win: He’s been instrumental in developing Deloitte’s Health Equity Initiative, creating thought leadership that demonstrates health equity as both a moral and economic imperative.

Other contributions: Dr. Bhatt serves on the Cook County Health System board, chairing the Quality and Patient Safety Committee, and is on the UnidosUS board. He received the 2021 Harvard Kennedy School Alumni Public Service Award. He’s a member of Leadership Greater Chicago’s 2025 class and was recognized as an Edgar fellow in 2021.

Theresa Fothofer

President

and CEO

Easterseals DuPage & Fox Valley

Scope of work: Fothofer leads Easterseals DuPage & Fox Valley, the region’s largest pediatric outpatient rehabilitation center. She manages a team of 150 staff across three locations, serving 1,000 children weekly with a $10 million budget.

Biggest professional win: She improved the organization’s scal health, turning a $600,000 de cit into a surplus by 2014. During COVID, she expanded mental health services from two parttime staff to eight full-time staff, now serving over 700 clients.

Other contributions: Fothofer serves on the Illinois Governor’s Council of Women & Girls Healthcare Committee, the Illinois Birth to Five Action Council and the Elgin Health & Human Services Council, and chairs the DuPage Federation on Human Services Reform.

Joe Dant

Chief growth of cer

Endeavor Health

Scope of work: Dant drives the growth of Endeavor’s Clinical Institutes and leads the system’s patient access strategy. He works closely with strategy and medical teams to align physicians and develop system partnerships while also overseeing philanthropy and the patient experience.

Biggest professional win: He previously led Edward-Elmhurst Health to be named one of the nation’s top 15 health systems by Fortune and PINC AI. His roles have included president and CEO of Edward Hospital; south region president of NorthShore – Edward-Elmhurst Health; and president, south region and institutes, Endeavor Health.

Other contributions: Dant serves on the board and executive committee of the Naperville Development Partnership, the Illinois Hospital Association’s Finance & Audit Committee and the Choose DuPage board. He supports Naperville nonpro t KidsMatter.

Gerald “J.P.” Gallagher

President and CEO

Endeavor Health

Scope of work: Gallagher leads Illinois’ third-largest health system, serving 1.4 million patients across more than 300 care sites, ve clinical institutes and nine hospitals. He focuses on delivering personalized care and fostering community-connected health care.

Biggest professional win: Over the past ve years, Gallagher has more than doubled the size of the health system and enhanced its focus on access, quality and health equity. In December 2023, he uni ed the system under the Endeavor Health brand.

Other contributions: Gallagher is involved with organizations including the Gallagher Foundation, the American College of Healthcare Executives, the Illinois Health & Hospital Association, the Madison Dearborn Partners Healthcare Advisory Council, the Commercial Club of Chicago and the Chicago Public Media Business Leadership Council.

Melissa Dennis

Chief medical of cer Partum Health

Scope of work: Dr. Dennis leads clinical practice design and quality outcomes for Partum Health’s multidisciplinary perinatal care model. She has expanded the practice from 10 to over 100 clinicians and developed integrated care frameworks that have reduced C-section rates and improved breastfeeding and mental health outcomes.

Biggest professional win: Dr. Dennis created a rst-of-its-kind doula training program, providing comprehensive education in mental health, trauma-informed care and other areas to increase doula availability and promote collaboration between doulas and clinical teams.

Other contributions: Dr. Dennis co-founded Citizen MD, which trains individuals in lifesaving techniques, and Leomedicus, offering medical survival education. She has served as a medical adviser to NBC Universal and Fox Broadcasting to ensure technical accuracy in medical TV shows.

President

City of Hope Chicago

Scope of work: Govorchin has led City of Hope Chicago for ve years, overseeing 720 employees and $275 million in revenue. He managed the $390 million merger with Cancer Treatment Centers of America, transitioning his organization to a nonpro t focused on equitable cancer care throughout Illinois.

Biggest professional win: He expanded access to cancer treatment by negotiating the inclusion of ve Illinois Medicare and Medicaid plans, resulting in a 68% increase in Medicare patients and $7.5 million in charitable care for underserved populations.

Other contributions: Govorchin is on the boards of Heart of the City, Josselyn Center and the Libertyville Rotary. He helped create the Illinois Cancer Care is Different Coalition and the Illinois Cancer Patient Bill of Rights.

Melanie Fernando

Chief operating of cer

Aetna Better Health of Illinois

Scope of work: Fernando oversees the administration of health care bene ts for over 350,000 Medicaid members, managing $4 billion in revenue and leading a team of 800-plus. She drives plan operations and strategic initiatives focused on improving member health outcomes and reducing costs.

Biggest professional win: Fernando reinvented Aetna’s customer experience by launching innovations like AI-powered chatbots and mobile care solutions, resulting in a 20% increase in member engagement and a 30% reduction in call volumes.

Other contributions: Fernando co-founded and serves as board president of Street Samaritans, a nonpro t supporting Chicagoans experiencing homelessness. Since 2017, she has led the organization’s growth and secured municipal, state and federal funding to expand its impact.

President University of Chicago Health System

Scope of work: Jackiewicz oversees the $5 billion, sevenhospital clinical enterprise of UChicago Medicine, integrating patient care with the University of Chicago’s education and research missions. He leads efforts to expand access to high-quality health care and advance cancer prevention and survivorship.

Biggest professional win: He spearheaded the development of Chicago’s rst free-standing cancer center, an $815 million, 575,000-square-foot pavilion aimed at addressing cancer care disparities and promoting health equity through community partnerships.

Other contributions: Jackiewicz is a board member of the Illinois Health & Hospital Association and a member of the National Health Care CEO Council on Gun Violence & Safety. He co-chaired the 2022 American Heart Association Metro Chicago Heart Walk and is a Leadership Greater Chicago Daniel Burnham fellow.

Lorna Finnegan

Professor and dean, Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing

Loyola University Chicago

Scope of work: Finnegan focuses on health equity, workforce diversity and expanding research initiatives. She integrates big data analytics and academic-practice partnerships to improve access to primary care for underserved populations.

Biggest professional win: Under Finnegan’s leadership, Loyola’s nursing school received the American Association of Colleges of Nursing’s 2024 Inclusive Excellence, Belonging & Sustainability in Nursing Education Award. The school saw a nearly 7% enrollment increase among students of color and was recognized for creating lasting change.

Other contributions: Finnegan co-founded clinics for underresourced students and uninsured working families in Chicago. She’s a past president of the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties.

Alexa James CEO

National Alliance on Mental Illness Chicago

Scope of work: James leads a team of 120 employees at NAMI Chicago, overseeing operations in policy, marketing, programming, partnerships and strategic planning. As the organization’s spokesperson, she advocates for mental health equity and serves as a thought partner for media and government agencies.

Biggest professional win: She has signi cantly expanded NAMI Chicago’s capacity, landing a contract to be a Chicago operator of the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline and launching a Workplace Wellness practice.

Other contributions: James is a board member of the Civic Federation and Serenity Foundation, serves on The Kennedy Forum Illinois’ Leadership Council, and has represented NAMI Chicago on the Chicago Police Accountability Task Force and the COVID-19 Recovery Task Force under former Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

Pete Govorchin

Thomas Jackiewicz

Maureen Karwowski

Vice

president of clinical services

Easterseals DuPage & Fox Valley

Scope of work: Karwowski oversees outpatient therapy services, managing eight program directors and over 70 clinicians. She handles nearly $6 million in billable hours annually, ensuring the highest quality of care through ef cient procedures and in-depth analysis of reimbursement rates.

Biggest professional win: She spearheaded the growth of autism services at Easterseals, increasing clinician training and hiring a bilingual psychologist. She adapted therapy spaces to better serve children with autism, ensuring comprehensive support.

Other contributions: Karwowski is certi ed in neurodevelopmental treatment and serves as a trainer in the Developmental Individualized Relationship-Based treatment method. She co-chairs the Early Intervention Special Interest Section of Illinois and is a member of the Occupational Therapy Association.

MARK ANDERSON, M.D., PH.D. executive vice president for Medical Affairs, dean of the Biological Sciences Division and dean of the Pritzker School of Medicine, University of Chicago

Kim A. Keck

President and CEO

Blue Cross Blue Shield Association

Scope of work: Keck leads 33 independent Blue Cross & Blue Shield companies, overseeing health care coverage for 119 million Americans. The association’s rst female CEO, she directs a team of 1,200 employees; scal 2023 revenue totaled $813 million.

Biggest professional win: In 2023, she launched Synergie Medication Collective, an outcomes-based contracting model that leverages the purchasing power of over 100 million people, enabling Blues to become the rst insurers to cover multimilliondollar gene therapies for sickle cell disease.

Other contributions: Keck chairs the Synergie Medication Collective board and serves on the boards of HarmonyCares, Evolent Health and BCS Financial. She’s involved in Break Into the Boardroom and the Health Evolution Confab for Advancing Women in Leadership.

THOMAS JACKIEWICZ president, University of Chicago Health System

As part of the University of Chicago, the UChicago Medicine health system’s clinical programs are closely connected to the academic and research missions of the Pritzker School of Medicine and the Biological Sciences Division. By leveraging interdisciplinary strengths, the leadership team drives strategic growth with an integrated approach.

Committed to making breakthrough discoveries and training future leaders while enhancing community health, equity and access to care, UChicago Medicine is bringing opportunities to Chicago’s South Side through key partnerships and innovative programs.

Brian Klassen

Director, Road Home Program

Rush University Medical Center

Scope of work: Klassen manages a multidisciplinary team of 70 professionals and an $11 million budget. He leads strategic planning and program development, serving over 2,000 veterans annually with treatments for PTSD and related conditions.

Biggest professional win: He successfully navigated the Road Home Program through the COVID-19 pandemic by negotiating a safe return to in-person programming while establishing a virtual PTSD treatment option, expanding access across state lines.

Other contributions: Klassen serves on the Community Advisory Board for PTSD research and the Executive Steering Committee of the Warrior Care Network. He is also a member of the American Psychological Association and the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies.

James Madara

CEO and executive vice president

American Medical Association

Scope of work: For 14 years, Dr. Madara has led the AMA, overseeing 1,300 employees and $495 million in revenue. He has strengthened the AMA’s nancial standing and membership, championing initiatives like Health2047 to create digital tools that reduce clinical burden and a strategic plan to improve health equity in underserved communities.

Biggest professional win: He guided the AMA’s response to the pandemic, championing vaccine safety and securing protective equipment for physicians while maintaining long-term goals to improve the health care system.

Other contributions: Dr. Madara chairs Health2047 and co-chairs the National Academy of Medicine’s Value Incentives & Systems Innovation Collaborative. He’s a member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians.

NOTABLE SPOTLIGHT

At the forefront of care, equity and innovation

What differentiates UChicago Medicine from other academic medical centers?

ANDERSON: We are one of the topperforming health systems in the country, with 10 nationally-ranked specialties and the No. 1 cancer care program in Illinois. We’re one of the safest, with 25 consecutive “A” Hospital Safety Grades — the only academic medical center that serves as the primary teaching hospital for its medical school, residency and fellowship programs to consistently meet these standards. Another area of distinction is our location on Chicago’s South Side, and our dedication to health equity and improving the lives of residents.

What are the top priorities in your 10year strategic plan?

Our strategic plan integrates the paths of our health system, medical school and research division. While these components have traditionally collaborated, the future of medicine demands our strategies be more intrinsically linked. Priorities include people and community; workforce wellbeing and our South Side commitment drive strategic choices.

How are you innovating the way you train future health care professionals in your medical school?

Anne Martino

Chief marketing of cer Endeavor Health

Scope of work: Martino leads a team of nearly 60 marketing and communications professionals, managing a $40 million budget for the $5.8 billion health system. She has overseen the successful rebranding of Endeavor Health, achieving nearly 60% brand awareness within 90 days of launch.

Biggest professional win: Martino played a key role in uniting four health care systems through three mergers and acquisitions, forming Illinois’ third-largest health system. She also led crisis communications during the July 2022 Highland Park mass shooting.

Other contributions: Martino serves on the boards of the University of Wisconsin School of Journalism and the Women’s Philanthropy Council. She’s involved in the Chicago Area Runners Association and the Milwaukee Ballet, and volunteers with the Aurora VNA Zilber Family Hospice.

with Mark Anderson and Thomas Jackiewicz

We’ve made a major update to our curriculum. Built on input from students, staff, alumni and patients, in the context of national benchmarks and our core values, our new curriculum empowers students to serve as patient advocates — incorporating self-directed learning, research, clinical experience and community engagement. We ensure students graduate with a strong foundation in biomedical science and clinical experience, while equipping them to embrace change and become leaders.

How is UChicago Medicine innovating the way it builds and upskills its workforce?

JACKIEWICZ: We have potential candidates in neighboring communities where employment, training and educational support have not been accessible. Minority neighborhoods on the South Side face poverty rates of up to 51%. UChicago Medicine can provide good jobs and bene ts through intentional hiring and targeted educational programs, especially as the industry faces a shortage of health care workers.

How will UChicago Medicine’s new cancer pavilion advance cancer care and research?

We envisioned what cancer care,

research and technology will look like in 10, 20 or 30 years. We’ll spur innovation as the rst freestanding cancer center in Illinois and reduce health disparities in underserved communities. As cancer survivor and UChicago Medicine Community Advisory Council chair Candace Henley said, “This hospital allows those of us who have felt invisible to be seen and access state-of-the-art care.”

How have partnerships helped drive UChicago Medicine’s growth?

In 2023, UChicago Medicine formed a joint venture with AdventHealth, which gave us controlling interest in four AdventHealth hospitals in Illinois and a network of physician of ces and outpatient locations. This improves access to academic medicine specialties at these community hospitals and outpatient locations. UChicago Medicine Ingalls Memorial Hospital has also undergone a major operational transformation, including adapting services to better meet the needs of Chicago’s south suburbs. When academic health systems and community hospitals work together, we make each other better and our patients bene t.

Patricia McClure-Chessier Chief health care executive leader

Streamwood Behavioral Healthcare System

Scope of work: McClure-Chessier leads a multimillion-dollar health care system for children, adolescents and adults, managing over 400 employees. Her responsibilities include patient safety, risk management, compliance and strategic growth, while ensuring dignity and respect for all patient groups, including the LGBTQ+ community.

Biggest professional win: She served as interim CEO to open a $25 million, 60-bed child and adolescent inpatient behavioral health hospital in the Chicago area, increasing access to behavioral health services.

Other contributions: McClureChessier is a board member of Streamwood Behavioral Healthcare System and Cornerstone Christian Ministries. She is active in the Alzheimer’s Association and Chicago Healthcare Executives Forum and has collaborated with Yale University Medical Group on improving patient safety.

Guriqba “Bal” Nandra

Medical director and founder

IV Solution Ketamine Centers of Chicago

Scope of work: Dr. Nandra, an anesthesiologist, founded Chicago’s rst ketamine center for mental illness in 2017. He leads a staff of medical professionals who’ve performed over 15,000 ketamine infusions with industryleading outcomes for depression, anxiety, PTSD and more.

Biggest professional win: Dr. Nandra received the 2024 Ellis Island Medal of Honor for innovation in mental health and philanthropic efforts. He was awarded the 2022 National Alliance on Mental Illness Chicago’s Light the Darkness Award for his work in mental health wellness.

Other contributions: Dr. Nandra founded the Serenity Foundation in 2020 to provide ketamine infusion therapy to nancially disadvantaged individuals. The foundation supports those who have not found success with traditional treatments for depression, PTSD and addiction.

Kathleen McShane Therapist and founder

Begin Within Therapy Services

Scope of work: McShane founded the trauma and attachment-focused mental health practice on the South Side. Her team of 22 therapists and two psychiatric nurse practitioners conduct 22,000 appointments annually, providing comprehensive in-house services.

Biggest professional win: In 2023, McShane was named Illinois Small Business Owner of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration and was honored by President Biden. She also completed the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program, which helped her grow her practice.

Other contributions: McShane worked with state Rep. Mary Gill on a law requiring insurance coverage for couples counseling for rst responders. She also serves on the leadership council of A New Direction/Wings, a local domestic violence organization.

Obianuju “Uju” Okoye

Founder and CEO

Visualize Healthcare

Scope of work: Dr. Okoye has helped pioneer AI-enhanced health care solutions and led rare pediatric disease research. She led a team that launched a program boosting patient engagement by integrating health data, resulting in a 40% increase in patient adherence to HIV treatment protocols.

Biggest professional win: In 2024, she was named a fellow in the inaugural class of the Clinton Global Initiative for health equity. In 2023, Visualize Healthcare was nominated for the Chicago Innovation Awards.

Other contributions: Dr. Okoye is on the boards of the Vision Help Foundation and Social Innovation Africa and a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. She’s been a speaker for the International Council for Small Business International Women’s Day 2024 Women in Medicine event.

Jessica Merar

Director

The Dragon y Foundation Chicago

Scope of work: Merar leads the pediatric oncology nonpro t, collaborating with staff at eight local children’s hospitals. She oversees an advisory board, student board, event committees and 45 volunteers, supporting hundreds of patients and families annually.

Biggest professional win: Merar transformed The Dragon y Foundation from a small project into an organization with over half a million dollars in revenue by 2024, partnering with major supporters like the Chicago Bears and Walgreens to amplify its mission.

Other contributions: Merar earned an executive scholar certi cate in nonpro t management from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. She maintains her child life certi cation so she can continue her clinical work at Lurie Children’s Hospital to ensure a patient-focused approach in her leadership role.

CEO

IWS Family Health

Scope of work: Ortolaza-Alvear leads IWS Family Health, providing primary care, dentistry, optometry, child development and behavioral health services to underserved Chicago-area families. She oversees a $9.6 million budget, ensuring regulatory compliance and scal stability while delivering high-quality care to vulnerable populations.

Biggest professional win: As vice president of strategy at Esperanza Health Centers, she opened four new health centers, growing patient services from 35,000 to nearly 50,000. She also launched a family medicine residency in partnership with Rush and led Illinois’ rst Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly.

Other contributions: A graduate of High Jump and a Daniel Murphy Scholar, Ortolaza-Alvear serves on the board of High Jump Chicago and was a Leadership Greater Chicago fellow, class of 2022.

Erik Mikaitis CEO

Cook County Health

Scope of work: Dr. Mikaitis leads over 6,000 professionals at Cook County Health, serving more than 600,000 people a year with a nearly $5 billion budget. He oversees two hospitals, 14 community health centers, the nation’s largest single-site correctional health service, the Cook County Department of Public Health and CountyCare, Cook County’s largest Medicaid managed care plan.

Biggest professional win: Dr. Mikaitis launched robotic surgery at Stroger Hospital, breaking socioeconomic barriers to advanced surgical care. He led efforts to award $44 million in behavioral health grants to community-based organizations and a new South Side health center planned for 2025.

Other contributions: Dr. Mikaitis is a member of the American Association for Physician Leadership, advocating for educational and workforce development initiatives.

Chief clinical of cer Thresholds

Scope of work: Pavick has dedicated 43 years of her career to Thresholds, including 18 years as chief clinical of cer. She oversees all clinical operations, including substance use treatment, mental health outreach, crisis response and integrated primary and behavioral health care, managing a team of 800.

Biggest professional win: In 2022 and 2023, she led Thresholds to open four Certi ed Community Behavioral Health Clinics, or CCBHCs, the largest number in Illinois. She also guided Thresholds through Illinois’ new CCBHC Medicaid Demonstration Program, expanding funding and access to care.

Other contributions: Pavick manages Thresholds’ partnerships with primary care providers to serve individuals with serious mental illnesses. She’s also on the board of The Prairie Enthusiasts, applying her community support expertise to ecosystem restoration.

Michele Mitchell

Executive medical director

Oak Street Health

Scope of work: Dr. Mitchell leads over 200 providers across ve states at Oak Street Health, focusing on enhancing patient experiences, improving outcomes for older adults and reducing hospitalizations. She has supported ve center openings in 2024, with three more planned, while also chairing the peer review committee and fostering community partnerships.

Biggest professional win: She revamped work ows at one center, helping it meet nancial targets. She also collaborated with leadership to develop standard procedures that improved ef ciency and patient outcomes across the region’s centers.

Other contributions: Dr. Mitchell advocates for diversity in health care recruitment and supports women of color in medicine. She volunteers with Chicago Street Medicine, providing health care to the unhoused population.

Executive vice president of construction

Reed Construction

Scope of work: In his role for 15 years, Pickands oversees all eld and of ce operations. He offers strategic guidance and mentors emerging leaders, managing multimillion-dollar health care projects at institutions such as Rush University Medical Center and NorthShore University Health System.

Biggest professional win: He led the successful completion of a six-story addition at Silver Cross Hospital, Reed Construction’s rst vertical integration project. The $30 million expansion included cardiovascular operating rooms, NICUs and post-anesthesia care unit space, all while the hospital remained operational.

Other contributions: Pickands served on the board of the Ingalls Development Foundation and is a member of the Healthcare Engineers Society of Northern Illinois. He supports various hospital foundations through the Reed Construction Foundation.

Heidi Ortolaza-Alvear

Debbie Pavick

Scott Pickands

Tulio Rodriguez

Director of hematology, bone marrow transplant and cellular therapy program

City of Hope Chicago

Scope of work: Dr. Rodriguez leads the only bone marrow transplant program in Lake County, overseeing a team of 37 professionals and managing clinical and administrative operations.

Biggest professional win: In the past year, he increased stem cell transplants by 40%, doubled CAR T therapy treatments and expanded the program’s research portfolio. He also recruited top hematologic oncologists to the region.

Other contributions: Dr. Rodriguez advocates for health care access, serving on the Chicago Medical Society Public Health Committee and the Gilda’s Club Latino Advisory Council. He was awarded the Leukemia Research Foundation’s Hero of Hope Award and the National Research Service Award from the National Cancer Institute.

Mark Rosenblatt

G. Stephen Irwin executive dean, University of Illinois Chicago College of Medicine, and CEO

University of Illinois Hospital & Clinics

Scope of work: Dr. Rosenblatt oversees medical education, research and patient care initiatives and was appointed distinguished professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences in 2023.

Biggest professional win: He launched the Center for Health Equity, utilizing machine learning and AI to address health disparities, and led the opening of four medical training and care facilities: the Surgical Innovation Training Laboratory, the UI Health Specialty Care Building, the 55th & Pulaski Health Collaborative and a new Simulation & Integrative Learning Institute site.

Other contributions: Dr. Rosenblatt’s research has been extensively funded by the NIH, Department of Defense and others. He has published over 150 works and serves on editorial boards for several ophthalmology journals.

David Smith

CEO and founder Third Horizon

Scope of work: Smith founded Third Horizon in 2018, leading dayto-day operations and driving expansion. Under his leadership, the rm has grown steadily, focusing on mental health, addiction and strengthening safety nets in Chicago and nationwide, with a team of 28 professionals.

Biggest professional win: During the COVID-19 pandemic, Smith retained all employees and introduced programs such as monthly well-being stipends, quarterly well-being days and virtual meetings using Oculus headsets to maintain employee connection and support.

Other contributions: Smith co-founded the Health Care Council of Chicago, focusing on violence prevention, health care access and mental health. He serves on the board of Sinai Chicago and volunteers his time providing strategic assistance to community organizations across the city.

Sara Sortal

Senior vice president, solutions and implementation

Synapse Health

Scope of work: Sortal leads the planning and implementation of solutions for Synapse Health’s Connect business, focusing on durable medical equipment, or DME. She collaborates with payors and DME providers to enhance existing products and develop new solutions.

Biggest professional win: In 2024, she spearheaded the successful launch of Synapse Health’s largest value-based agreement, making the company the single source provider of DME services. This initiative revolutionized the patient experience by streamlining the DME process.

Other contributions: Sortal volunteers with the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation and supports mentorship programs for Northwestern University student-athletes. She also serves as a liaison to the local park district board in Deer eld.

The State of the Midwest ECONOMY

Jaya White Partner

Quarles & Brady

Scope of work: White provides legal advice to health care providers across the country, focusing on the long-term care, pharmacy and home infusion industries. She advises clients on regulatory and transactional matters, including CARES Act funding and licensing for nursing and assisted living facilities.

Biggest professional win: White recently served as regulatory counsel for several long-term care operators during the purchase and sale of facilities, overseeing licensure and certi cation processes. She also guided a national assisted living provider through the Provider Relief Fund during the pandemic.

Other contributions: White is a member of the American Society for Pharmacy Law, the American Health Law Association, the Illinois Association of Healthcare Attorneys and the Illinois Healthcare Association.

Aldi coming to the West Loop

The grocery chain will open a new location in the popular downtown neighborhood in 2026 at the base of a planned apartment tower

By Rachel Herzog

Aldi will open its rst West Loop store in 2026 at the base of a planned apartment tower that’s part of the area’s residential boom.

e discount grocery chain has signed a lease to occupy almost 22,000 square feet at 1016 W. Jackson Blvd., where Chicago-based Mavrek Development has received City Council approval for a 380-unit apartment complex, Mavrek Chief Investment O cer Anthony Hrusovsky said.

A grocery store would cater to the in ux of new residents coming to the West Loop, as more than 2,000 apartments are either under construction or have been recently completed in the area, according to data from Integra Realty Resources. e project site at West Jackson Boulevard and Morgan Street is also close to the Illinois Medical District and the University of Illinois Chicago.

“I think it says a lot about their interest and the long-term viability in this little pocket of the West Loop,” Hrusovsky said of Aldi’s lease, which has a 15-year term with options to extend.

Mavrek plans to start construction on the 25-story tower at 1016 W. Jackson in the rst quarter of 2025. e rm is close to securing construction nancing for the $155 million project, Hrusovsky said. Twenty percent of the units will be marketed at a ordable rates. e grocery store is set to open in the second half of 2026.

Net monthly rent at top-tier, or Class A, apartment buildings downtown was $3.75 per square foot in the second quarter of 2024, according to Integra, which works out to a tenant paying more than $2,600 a month for an average-sized apartment. Owners of grocery store-anchored buildings can often charge higher rents, since tenants tend to be willing to pay for the convenience.

In nearby Fulton Market, Chicago-based LG Development has received City Council approval for a two-tower apartment complex totaling 667 units at 170 N. May St. and 175 N. Racine Ave. that will also include a grocery store on the ground oor, but that tenant hasn’t been announced.

Aldi didn’t respond to a re-

quest for comment. e chain closed its Lincoln Park store in mid-October but is in expansion mode, saying in March that it would spend $9 billion to add

800 stores nationwide by the end of 2028, including 330 locations in the Midwest and Northeast.

Mavrek’s other downtown projects include the Saint Grand,

a 248-unit Streeterville apartment high-rise that opened in April, as well as a plan to convert a vintage Wacker Drive o ce tower into 255 apartments.

Mississippi River dries up again at worst time for farmers

The river is low for the third straight autumn, creating headaches for farmers who rely on the route to deliver their crops to the world

e Mississippi River is su ering from low waters for the third straight autumn, a crucial time of year when American farmers rely on the route to deliver their crops to the world.

Months of limited rainfall — with few chances for more during the rest of the season — have left the vital waterway so shallow that barges are starting to run aground, even after shippers started running lighter loads to prevent boats from hitting the river bottom.

While the situation isn’t as chaotic as in years past, the lack of water is again creating headaches for shippers and farmers. e drying of the Mississippi over the past three years is raising shipping costs and hindering farmers’ ability to compete for markets overseas. During the best of times, nearly two-thirds of US crop exports are shipped on

the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.

“Longer periods of low water, and increased transportation costs to get bushels to port in the US, ultimately starve o business,” said No Bull Inc. grain analyst Susan Stroud.

Shipping costs are currently about 55% above the average for the past ve years. While demand for American soy and corn is strong, those elevated costs could create a competitive disadvantage once farmers in Brazil start harvesting early in 2025.

For now, because world buyers in countries like China are rushing to import US crops ahead of the Nov. 5 presidential election, shippers are able to pass along the extra costs. US corn at the Gulf of Mexico is priced at about $197 per metric ton — just below prices in the Brazilian port of Santos.

World demand has been shifting away from the US for years, partly due to increased domestic processing that keeps more sup-

plies in the country. e river problems are only making a recovery more di cult.

“We are at the mercy of the river,” said Bryce Baker, general manager of the Jersey County Grain terminal in Hardin, Illinois. Baker started booking barges he needed last month back in August to make sure he wasn’t short.

So-called draft restrictions, which limit how deep a vessel can sit in the water, mean a barge of corn could have 27% less than a full load. “It de nitely a ects

the volume,” Baker said. “It’s really making facilities like mine get longer barge freight.”

e problem stems from a dry spell in the regions that feed the Mississippi as well as the Missouri and Ohio rivers. Across the Midwest, nearly 83% of the land is abnormally dry and almost 53% is in drought, according to the US Drought Monitor. It’s so dry that one good rain won’t solve the low water problems on the river, said Drew Smith, deputy chief of the water-

shed division of the Army Corps of Engineers.

O cials aren’t ready to blame climate change. e recent trend of dryness was preceded by a lengthy wet period that didn’t end until 2020. “It’s very cyclical, we see it both ways,” Smith said.

“It remains to be seen what may be driving the dryness over the last few years,” said Trent Ford, the Illinois state climatologist, a position under the University of Illinois. “ ree years doesn’t make a trend.”

Michael Hirtzer and Brian K. Sullivan, Bloomberg

An architect’s rendering of Aldi’s planned store at 1016 W. Jackson Blvd. | MAVREK DEVELOPMENT AND ECKENHOFF SAUNDERS

This enrollment season, expect a lot of window shopping for Medicare Advantage plans

As some insurers pull their MA offerings and sue the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Illinois residents have fewer options

By Jon Asplund

During a time of great upheaval for Medicare Advantage, Illinois residents have slightly fewer plans to choose from for next year.

As some insurers pull their MA o erings and sue the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for changing how it doles out its ratings during this enrollment period, Illinois Medicare patients can choose among 157 MA plans. In 2024, there were 165 plans available.

CMS reports the Illinois average monthly premium for the generally cheaper Medicaid Advantage plans, which impose limits on enrollees' approved care and in-network providers, has dropped from $12.01 in 2024 to $8.39 in 2025.

Anyone who has Medicare has access to the cheaper MA plans and can change plans during open enrollment. About 2.4 million people are enrolled in Medicare, according to CMS.

Overall choices during enrollment for Medicare-eligible people — seniors, disabled people

and those with end-stage renal disease — include traditional Medicare, Medicare Advantage and Medicare Part D prescription drug plans.

In addition to providing guidance and information about plan choices, CMS provides star ratings for Medicare-backed health and drug plans.

New plan star ratings have led at least three national health plans, UnitedHealth Group, Humana and Centene, to sue over receiving lower quality scores. At the same time, Elevance Health is asking CMS to reconsider its lower scores.

At issue for Centene and UnitedHealthcare are disputes over test calls CMS conducts to gauge customer service.

A drop in scores can be serious for insurers. ey carry huge implications for enrollment numbers as enrollees choose between plans using ratings in the 2025 Plan Finder as a guide, and CMS uses the star ratings for 2026 MA quality bonus payments.

Centene said the drop in star ratings would impact enrollment

Leila Rahimi exits NBC 5 Chicago

Rahimi’s departure leaves just one full-time sports anchor and reporter at the station

By Pawan Naidu

Sports anchor Leila Rahimi has departed WMAQ-TV/ Channel 5 in a move highlighting NBC 5 Chicago’s attempts to grapple with audiences moving away from local TV news.

Rahimi told the Chicago SunTimes on Oct. 22 she and the station have decided to part ways. Rahimi’s agent suggested the decision might be related to NBC Sports Chicago closing down.

“That’s not a situation that I’m going to dive into,” Boomer Dangel, vice president of broadcasting and new media at talent agency CSE, said to the Sun-Times. “Lousy endings, the (regional sports network NBC Sports Chicago), all of the changes there that happened at the same time. A lot of change is afoot.”

NBC Sports Chicago was set to cease operations following the announcement by the Bulls, Blackhawks and White

numbers and cost the company an estimated $73 million in gross revenue, according to the Oct. 22 lawsuit, Crain's sister brand Modern Healthcare reports.

One new plan in the Chicago area is St. Louis-based Essence Healthcare, which touts plans getting ve-star ratings for three years in a row. e company announced it was making MA plans

available in Cook, DuPage and Lake counties for 2025.

e shifting Medicare Advantage landscape for 2025 also represents an opportunity for the companies that help enrollees choose among a confusing array of plans.

e head of Chicago-based health plan nder GoHealth told Modern Healthcare last month

that enrollees are expected to really shop around as plan availability and new star ratings come into play.

“We haven't seen this much disruption in years, where you have a lot of consumers who need to shop and likely need to make switches,” said GoHealth CEO Vijay Kotte. “We’re feeling pretty good.”

Sox of their intent to establish a dedicated sports network. The former NBC affiliate officially ended its operations on Sept. 1, just one day before the launch of the Chicago Sports Network. CHSN assumed access to live games and providing preand postgame coverage.

Ruthie Polinsky, another sports anchor, made the transition to the new network from NBC 5. Mike Berman is currently the station’s only fulltime sports anchor and reporter remaining.

The move highlights the challenges that local TV news is currently facing, according to Tim Franklin, senior associate dean at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

Audiences are showing a decreased interest in consuming local news, and it is a trend that is expected to persist, prompting stations to consider cost-cutting measures.

“In general, we may be see -

ing cuts at stations across the country,” he said. “And because sports news and video highlights are so ubiquitous online, local TV news station executives might see sports as an area to pare back.”

In 2022, Rahimi became the rst woman to serve as a fulltime lead sports anchor on NBC 5. Her role involved anchoring

the sportscasts during the 5, 6, and 10 p.m. news slots, as well as co-anchoring “Sports Sunday” alongside Berman. e plans for Rahimi’s role are currently unclear.

Rahimi initially joined the network in 2015 as a part-time anchor and reporter for NBC Sports Chicago. In 2020, she was let go due to companywide layo s at

NBCUniversal. After that, she was hired by WSCR-AM/670 e Score in January 2021, and in November that year, NBC 5 brought her back on board following the departure of former lead anchor Siafa Lewis. Rahimi was promoted to lead sports anchor months later.

NBC 5 did not respond to requests for comment.

Leila Rahimi | NBC 5

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

ACCOUNTING

BDO USA, Chicago

BDO USA has named Joe Furey a Principal in the rm’s Specialized Tax Services practice. Joe has deep knowledge of research and development tax credits and incentives. With 18 years of experience, he has served clients across a variety of industries, including manufacturing and distribution, retail and consumer products, and technology.

ACCOUNTING

BDO USA, Chicago

BDO USA has named Matt Michrina a Principal in the rm’s Tax practice. Michrina’s areas of focus include corporate income tax and ASC 740. With 14 years of experience, he has served clients across a variety of industries, including manufacturing, distribution and technology.

ACCOUNTING

BDO USA, Chicago

ARCHITECTURE

Farr Associates Architecture and Urban

Design, Chicago

Farr Associates is proud to announce Mercedes E Miley, AIA, CPHC, NCARB and Len Sciarra, AIA, ASHRAE, LEED Fellow, CPHC have joined the ownership team as President and Vice-President, respectively.

With Founder Douglas Farr, FAIA, FCNU, they will advance the rm’s mission of prototyping the future and bringing affordable, sustainable design to all. Miley is an architect, developer, and urban designer. She has facilitated architecture projects from $2M to $95M and urban design works across seven states.

Sciarra is an expert in advancing sustainable design into practice. He chaired the Chicago AIA Committee on the Environment, was a key player in passing green building ordinances in Chicago and is the Vice Chair of ASHRAE Standard 90.1.

BDO USA has named Randi Miller a Principal in the rm’s Tax practice. Miller’s areas of focus include multinational corporate entities, tax consulting, tax compliance and ASC 740. With 17 years of experience, she has served clients across a variety of industries, including private equity, technology, and retail and consumer products.

ACCOUNTING

BDO USA, Chicago

BDO USA has named Tom Takasaki a Principal in the BDO Alliance Business Resource Network group. His responsibilities include operations, recruitment, business development and client management. With 21 years of experience, Takasaki provides enhanced business consulting, technology, and vendor services to BDO USA, BDO Alliance Firm Members, and their clients.

BANKING / FINANCE

ABOC, Chicago

ABOC is pleased to welcome Kimberly Kam as Sales Director, Union and Commercial Services. Ms. Kam is responsible for overseeing a team of Relationship Managers and Client Of cers to provide best-in-class experiences for the Bank’s clients. She offers extensive knowledge in managing an expansive deposits portfolio, including new client acquisition and customer lifecycle optimization. She will focus on streamlining processes and implementing best practices to facilitate growth.

COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE

Cawley Commercial Real Estate, Chicago

Cawley CRE announces the addition of Andrew Bobak and Henry Jones as the newest Associates to their team. Bobak specializes in Industrial Real Estate, while Jones joins the Tenant Representation division. Both are the latest of several key additions this year at Cawley CRE, the well-known brokerage and property management company serving Chicagoland and the Greater Midwest.

Jones

CONSTRUCTION

Skyline Construction, Chicago

Skyline Construction, a leading commercial interior contractor, is pleased to announce the appointment of Srida Joisa as Chief Financial Of cer. Joisa brings over 20 years of nancial experience and will play an important role in Skyline’s growth as the company expands into additional markets across the US through M&A strategies. As a 100% employee-owned company, Joisa will ensure sustainable, thoughtful growth while generating value for clients and employee-owners alike.

LAW

Nixon Peabody LLP, Chicago Nixon Peabody LLP is pleased to announce that Randal Alexander has joined the rm as counsel in our Intellectual Property practice. Randal is a seasoned patent litigator with comprehensive experience representing clients across a broad range of technologies in federal district courts, the US International Trade Commission’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board, and the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He earned his JD from UIC John Marshall Law School.

LAW FIRM

Marshall, Gerstein & Borun LLP, Chicago

LAW

Nixon Peabody LLP, Chicago Nixon Peabody LLP is pleased to announce that partner Daniel Schwartz has been appointed as deputy leader of its Intellectual Property practice, which guides clients through the complete IP lifecycle and handles IP disputes throughout the US and internationally. Dan is an IP litigator who focuses on patent, trade secrets, trademark, copyright, and licensing disputes. He represents clients in federal court, before the US Patent and Trademark Of ce, and in domestic and international arbitrations.

Marshall Gerstein is pleased to welcome Elaine Ramesh, Ph.D. Special Counsel to the rm’s Patent Prosecution practice. Elaine is a trusted advisor for chemical innovation with more than two decades of legal experience. Elaine’s practice focuses on patent preparation and prosecution for the international patent portfolios of corporations, startups and universities in technology areas including semiconductor processing chemistry, electrochemistry and polymer chemistry.

PRIVATE INVESTMENTS

Midloch Investment Partners, Chicago

Midloch Investment Partners, the real estate investment rm, property operator, and fund manager, has promoted Grif n Palmer to Associate Director of Investments. In this role, he is responsible for sourcing and underwriting commercial and multifamily investment opportunities for Midloch and its investors, who include family of ces and high net worth individuals. Grif n is a graduate of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. For more information, visit https://midloch.com/.

Sciarra

UChicago researchers may have found ‘functional cure’ for Type 1 diabetes

By Jon Asplund

There’s a catch-22 problem in treating Type 1 diabetes — the “standard of care” anti-rejection medicine used to try to cure diabetes is actually known to cause the same disease. UChicago Medicine researchers are hoping they’ve solved it with a new treatment.

Medical researchers at UChicago have successfully transplanted pancreatic islets into three patients with Type 1 diabetes, with two achieving insulin independence and a third already decreasing insulin use by 60%.

Dr. Piotr Witkowski, director of the pancreatic and islet transplant program at the University of Chicago Transplant Institute, said the patients’ results are a step toward a functional cure for Type 1 diabetes. Witkowski and his team used an experimental, novel antibody called tegoprubart as part of an immunosuppression regimen when transplanting donor islets into the three patients, according to a press release from Eledon Pharmaceuticals, the California-based drugmaker developing tegoprubart.

While scientists have been working to transplant healthy islets into diabetics whose own bodies have destroyed their pancreatic islets, a major stum -

bling block has been the common anti-rejection drug tacrolimus, the release said.

The problem has been adverse effects of tacrolimus, according to information on the National Institutes of Health website, including new-onset diabetes mellitus. The drug could cause the exact problem the transplantation is meant to cure.

“For more than 30 years, we have been looking for options

that can deliver target levels of immunosuppression without the side effects associated with standard of care, including toxicity to the kidneys, central nervous system and islet cells, and increased risk of diabetes and hypertension,” Witkowski said in the Eledon release. “(This) data further (supports) tegoprubart as a novel immunosuppression option that can play a central role in advancing islets transplantation as a potentially

transformational alternative for subjects with Type 1 diabetes.”

Eledon said tegoprubart has already shown promise in anti-rejection treatment for human patients in pig kidney and pig heart xenotransplants. Witkowski was scheduled to present his findings last week at an International Pancreas & Islet Transplant Association summit in Boston. The pilot study is funded by The Cure Al -

liance and Breakthrough T1D, formerly the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

The three subjects received islet transplants through a minimally invasive injection and a regimen of immunosuppressant agent mycophenolate mofetil combined with tegoprubart given every third week, the release said.

The first participant was a 42-year-old woman who, at 90 days post-transplant, saw improved HbA1c levels to 6.0%, from 8.4%, and her daily insulin dose decreased to 16 units per day, from 80 units per day at baseline, the release said. After 16 weeks she received a second islet transplant, and about two weeks later achieved insulin independence and a 5.4% A1C, the release said.

The second participant was a 30-year-old woman who stopped insulin support four weeks after the islet transplant, with an A1C level of 5.8% and below after seven weeks, the release said.

The third participant was a 37-year-old man with an A1C of 9.3%. He was discharged from the University of Chicago Medical Center after three days, requiring only 29 units of insulin, down from 90 units per day, according to the release, which also noted his diabetes continues to improve.

Walgreens lays off about 250 workers in latest round of cuts

This is the fourth batch of corporate cuts in the last year and a half

By Katherine Davis

Walgreens Boots Alliance is laying off more employees in a round of workforce cuts, which represents its fourth batch of corporate personnel reductions in the last year and a half.

The struggling pharmacy chain is laying off 256 employees, or 3.6%, of its support center team and cutting about 215 open and unfilled roles, Walgreens spokesman Fraser Engerman confirmed in a statement to Crain’s.

Engerman said the cuts reflect Deerfield-based Walgreens’ efforts to turn around the business and its recent decision to focus on its core retail pharmacy business.

“While decisions like these are always difficult, we believe this action is necessary to position us to rapidly respond to the changing external environment so we can best serve the mil -

lions of patients and customers who depend on us every day for their health care needs,” Engerman said. “We are grateful for the many contributions by team members who will be leaving, and we are committed to supporting them as much as possible during this transition.”

Engerman said all affected employees will be offered outplacement support and sever-

ance, but he declined to disclose when affected employees would be notified.

Walgreens also laid o employees almost exactly a year ago, when it cut 267 workers, which represented about 5% of the company’s corporate workforce. at round, however, followed the elimination of 504 corporate employees just ve months before. Around that time, the com-

pany also cut 400 roles at an e-commerce distribution center in downstate Edwardsville.

From Aug. 31, 2022, to Aug. 31, 2024, the number of Walgreens employees fell 4% to 312,000 people globally, according to Walgreens’ lings with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission. Of those, 245,000, or 78%, are based in the U.S. is latest round of layo s fol-

lows a scal year full of billion-dollar losses, store closure announcements and cost-cutting initiatives. Walgreens, like its competitors, has been hit with industrywide challenges, like online retail competition and pricing pressure from pharmacy bene t managers, but a failed health care pivot kick-started by Executive Chairman Stefano Pessina has loaded the company up with debt and is contributing to major asset write-downs and other losses.

CEO Tim Wentworth, who has now been in the top role for about a year, has been focused on right-sizing the enormous business. So far, cost-cutting initiatives, which included closing stores and laying off employees, contributed to positive cash flow for the full fiscal year ended Aug. 31. But more cuts are necessary, as Wentworth indicated to investors on Oct. 15. Moving forward, Walgreens is focused on optimizing its store footprint with a plan to close 14% of its stores. Wentworth also said he’s focused on “reorienting” Walgreens to its legacy business as a “retail pharmacy-led” company as it continues to pivot away from health care delivery.

REAL ESTATE AUCTION

Antitrust probe could slow down the Capital One-Discover deal

Legal wrangling might delay approval of Capital One’s $35 billion bid for Riverwoods-based Discover Financial Services

By Mark Weinraub

New York’s investigation into Capital One’s proposed $35 billion acquisition of Discover Financial Services could slow the deal’s closure, which the companies had originally targeted for late 2024 or early 2025.

e legal back-and-forth stems from New York’s request for Capital One’s records related to the deal, and legal experts said there was no timeline on how long it would take for the process to play out.

“I do not know if it says anything speci cally about if this deal will be ultimately approved,” said Jeremy Kress, assistant professor of business law at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. “I think what it does tell you is that the prospects for quick approval probably went down with this announcement.”

But the state’s move should not impact reviews by the U.S. Federal Reserve and O ce of the Comptroller of the Currency, the two federal agencies with jurisdiction over bank mergers.

“I do not think we can read much into how the Fed and the OCC might be looking at this deal based on New York’s investigative demands,” Kress said.

New York Attorney General Letitia James said the deal would have a “signi cant impact” on consumers in the state.

James asked a state court for permission to issue subpoenas to Capital One as part of an ongoing antitrust probe by the state. She said New York would be particularly impacted by the deal because Capital One and Discover have more than $16 billion in combined credit card loans in the state.

While New York’s move might

not impact federal regulators, it could spark other state attorneys general to join in the litigation.

“ ere are a number that are already investigating this,” said Jeffery Cross, a partner at law rm Smith Gambrell & Russell. “In the last 20 years or so, the states have become very proactive in terms of mergers and acquisitions.”

e Illinois attorney general’s o ce declined to comment on whether it was investigating the deal.

e o ce has greater authority over health care mergers under a new state law, backed by Attorney General Kwame Raoul, that went into e ect this year. But the relatively small antitrust division has taken a back seat in more high-pro le actions challenging nationwide megamergers.

In the past, the Illinois o ce has joined up with other antitrust actions, including a federal lawsuit led earlier this year with 29 other states against Live Nation and its subsidiary Ticketmaster claiming Live Nation has monopolized the live entertainment industry.

Illinois also was attached to a 2023 lawsuit against Google, joining the federal government and 16 other states in accusing the tech giant of monopolizing digital advertising technologies to buy and sell ads.

And it joined the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s e ort to block grocery giant Kroger’s proposed $24.6 billion acquisition of Albertsons, citing concerns about reduced wages for workers and higher prices.

e Biden administration has played a strong antitrust hand when it comes to megamergers. In 2021, Aon called o its deal to acquire Willis Towers Watson after

the Justice Department sued to block the transaction.

For banking mergers, the Federal Reserve and the O ce of the Comptroller of the Currency are tasked with making their recommendations about approval to the Justice Department, which then has 30 days to decide if it will sue to block a deal.

Any state lawsuits would likely be limited to blocking the combined company from doing business in their area, which would be crippling for national brands like Capital One and Riverwoods-based Discover, which employs about 6,000 people in two Chicago-area o ces.

“ ey might not have the ability to block a merger outside of the state,” said Cross, who also is an adjunct professor at the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law. “It would be almost impossible for a national company to merge if you have to carve out . . . New York.”

Capital One, which has about 2,000 employees in its Chicago ofce, said it was con dent the merger would ultimately win regulatory approval and prove benecial to consumers.

“We remain well positioned to get shareholder and regulatory approvals, and we expect to be in a position to complete the acquisition early in 2025, subject to regulatory and shareholder approval,” Capital One Chairman and CEO Richard Fairbank said on an earnings call Oct. 24.

A proposed class-action lawsuit led by consumers to block the deal has been stayed pending a decision by regulators reviewing the deal. e suit, led in Virginia federal court, claimed the merger would hurt competition and raise prices for consumers.

on remote work are increasingly facing employee pushback.

How can we know that now is not the beginning of the end for remote work?

First, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks it. e government’s latest employment report showed telecommuting increased over the last year. In September 2023, 10% of workers were fully remote. at gure is now 11.1%. Hybrid work also went up, with the number of folks working in person part of the time increasing from 9.8% last year to 12.6% now.

Another lens into whether people are actually changing their work habits is o ce foot tra c. If employers were all of a sudden forcing workers back to their desks, we would expect to see at least some change re ected in the various trackers of post-pandemic o ce occupancy.

at is not happening.

Years of data from property management rm Kastle Systems, which tracks badge swipes at its buildings in 10 major U.S. cities, shows in-o ce activity has remained relatively consistent since November 2022. Similarly, an August report from Placer.AI, which uses cellphone data to track foot tra c, measured just a 1% yearover-year rise in o ce activity nationwide.

No metric for tracking o ce data is perfect, and critics, particularly those incentivized to see ofce occupancy go up, have called out certain datasets for underestimating activity. But while these datasets tell di erent stories about how often people work in person — Kastle says it’s about 50% of pre-pandemic levels, Placer.AI more like 70% — neither suggests there has been any seismic shift in the number of folks going into ofces recently.

Could this just be because the latest round of changes to remote work is still in its infancy and therefore not yet playing out in the data? Maybe. Amazon, for example, is one of the major employers calling workers back to the o ce. e company announced its new in-person policy in September but said enforcement would not start until January.

Even then, it is unclear if the policy will play out with workers actually back in the o ce ve days a week. Similar mandates have fallen short at other rms. In fact, 1 in 5 U.S. workers who have been called

CITY HALL

then Chicago isn’t eligible,” said Michael Allen, a partner focusing on civil rights and disability issues at the Washington law rm Relman Colfax, who is representing Access Living in its lawsuit against the city.

Chicago’s “eligibility for the funding will be determined by HUD,” Pete Strazzabosco, the city’s deputy commissioner of planning and development, wrote in an email in response to Crain’s inqui-

back to their desks are now outright ignoring their employer’s return-to-o ce, or RTO, policy, according to a Resume Builder survey of over 1,000 full-time employees. Already, Amazon employees are pushing back against the proposed mandate. An employee survey from Blind found some 90% of the Seattle-based company’s workers oppose the new policy. More than 30,000 Amazon employees have joined a “remote advocacy” Slack channel.

In response, Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman suggested workers who wish not to return in person should nd other jobs. “ ere are other companies around,” he said.

Garman’s suggestion, however, highlights one of the reasons remote work is not going away.

ere are other employers around, and plenty are welcoming remote workers with open arms.

Capitalizing on policy shifts

Take Ocient, a Chicago-based data analytics rm, for example.

Founder Chris Gladwin, who is all-in on remote work, said his rm has capitalized on Big Tech companies calling sta back.

“I have literally recruited thousands of in-demand, expert tech workers over the decades. I have almost never been able to recruit people out of places like an Apple or Microsoft or an Amazon,” he said. “But the one time we have been able to do it is when those companies shift back to policies where employees have to go back to the o ce. We’ve been able to recruit people out of them because they don’t want to go back.”

Gladwin does not anticipate giving up that employee perk anytime soon. “We are able to recruit the

ries at the departments of law and housing.

e nal version of the application that Chicago submitted Oct. 11 included “an acknowledgement that the DOJ led a statement of interest involving a(n) Access Living lawsuit,” Strazzabosco wrote.

“Applying to competitive grant opportunities like this,” Strazzabosco wrote, is a “critical way for the city to expand a ordable housing production, further fair housing goals, and make a ordable units more equitably accessible for all prospective tenants.”

do not have the ability to telecommute. ere are the inherently hands-on jobs that require workers to be on-site, but also certain elds that theoretically could be remote but have embraced o ce work. ink Wall Street, for example, which is almost entirely in-person.

On the other hand, some industries that traditionally require workers to be physically present are now getting creative to embrace remote work. One example is the Cleveland Clinic, Ohio’s largest employer, continuing to expand its remote caregiving team. e medical center now employs more than 10,000 remote employees, or about 10% of its total caregivers.

Con icting research

world,” he said, noting how he no longer has to convince top talent to relocate. “Because we’ve learned how to do remote work, we can recruit people that live in Boston or Chicago or Germany or wherever. It just doesn’t matter. And that means we get better people.”

Amazon is an extreme example of an employer trying to bring workers back to the o ce. Other companies that have made headlines recently for changing their WFH policies are doing so in a milder way. Many remain adamant they are not getting rid of remote work altogether.

Stellantis, the maker of Jeep and Dodge vehicles, is one example. Company leadership said last month they now want workers in their o ces three days a week, rather than the previous 1.5 average. Is that a sign Michigan’s fourth-largest private employer is throwing in the towel on exible work? “No, that’s not what is happening,” a Stellantis representative said bluntly. “It’s still a hybrid work environment. e whole vibe, the whole foundation, is just to be exible.”

Asked about reports that characterized Stellantis’ new policy as “a major change,” the representative responded, “I think someone got a little excited with their adjectives.”

Americans largely support the status quo, which is a mix of remote, hybrid and in-person options for corporate workers. A poll commissioned by the American Sta ng Association earlier this year found roughly 40% of folks prefer a hybrid schedule, while the remaining 60% are split evenly between wanting fully remote or in-person.

It’s also important to note the vast majority of American workers

e HUD stipulation about civil rights cases applies only to discretionary funds like the $100 million PRO fund, not to annual HUD funds that go to the Chicago Housing Authority and other housing programs in the city.

2018 lawsuit

The Access Living lawsuit, filed in 2018, alleges that Chicago shirks its responsibility to ensure affordable housing units meet accessibility standards. The city’s stance has been that it is essentially a conduit of federal funds to third parties that devel -

than 500 sites of care in the state, primarily in the Chicago area.

ere is con icting research on the e ects remote work has on employees and employers. Some, like Gladwin, say exibility increases productivity.

“We think we are more productive now — much more productive,” Gladwin said. “One reason is that the average half-hour to onehour commutes are gone. e time formerly spent commuting is now devoted to work. And people no longer have their energy drained in commuting.”

Others argue the opposite. ey say remote work limits creativity and collaboration, which in turn diminishes workers’ yield. And there is some evidence to that effect. A 2023 study from Stanford University’s Institute for Economic Policy Research, for example, estimates fully remote work leads to a 10% productivity loss. e same researchers found hybrid work bene ts both companies and employees.

Among those making the argument for a return to the o ce is Michael Gibbs, a professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business who has done extensive research on remote work and how it a ects productivity.

If companies do not bring workers back to the o ce, “the intangibles are going to su er over the long run,” Gibbs said. “You’re losing corporate culture. You’re losing people’s attachment to their work and their colleagues. ese kinds of things matter.”

But even he says the status quo is probably not going to change anytime soon. “I don’t think working from home is going to go away,” he said. “At least not right now, because everyone has gotten so used to and comfortable with working from home.”

op affordable housing.

Edmond Chang, a judge in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, dismissed that argument in a recent order. Chang wrote that the city “may not avoid liability by framing its role in affordable housing as merely providing funding and tax credits to developers in a way that blanketly absolves the city from its own duty of complying with the federal accessibility laws.”

e city has repeatedly declined to comment to Crain’s on the case, so it’s not possible to say why the

Unlike Kingston, who was based in Wisconsin, Rocchio will be based in Charlotte, where most of Advocate Health’s top executives, including CEO Eugene Woods, reside. Other regional executives who left the health system include Jim Skogsbergh, the former co-CEO of Advocate Health and former CEO of Advocate Aurora, as well as William Santulli, Advocate Health’s former president of the Midwest region and Advocate Aurora’s former chief operating officer.

“I am honored to be joining the amazing team of nurses across Advocate Health, an organization that is uniquely positioned to set the standard across our industry from patient care to workforce development,” Rocchio said in a press release announcing her appointment. “I look forward to working with nursing leaders across our organization to realize the full potential of our nursing teammates to make a difference for our patients and communities.”

Seasoned professional Rocchio brings more than 30 years of nursing experience to her new role. Before Mercy, she held several leadership positions at Mount Carmel Health System in Columbus, Ohio. Rocchio began her career as a registered nurse in the intensive care unit before becoming a certified registered nurse anesthetist. She holds degrees from the Franciscan University of Steubenville, LaRoche College and e Ohio State University.

“I am confident that Betty Jo will build upon the tradition of excellence established by our nursing teams and elevate us to new heights by helping to transform the way we deliver care to our patients in the years ahead,” Woods said in the press release. “She has a track record of implementing cutting-edge solutions and leveraging data analytics to address the multigenerational needs of nurses and foster a positive workplace culture."

city takes the stance it does. Access Living documented for an earlier stage of the litigation that the city inspects a ordable housing units according to other standards but does not inspect for accessibility.

The result, according to the group, is that many Chicagoans with disabilities simply can’t live in subsidized affordable units because they cannot physically enter them or circulate inside them. Chicago’s deficit of disabled-access affordable residential units totals about 3,500, the group says.

B L OOMBER G

More than 30,000 Amazon employees have joined a “remote advocacy” Slack channel.

“It’s not about higher volume. It’s more hand-touched,” she adds. “Not everybody’s open to do that.”

Marko parted ways with Vosges in July. Last month, she announced the November launch of her new venture.

Violet Flame will start small, selling online only. At this point, the company only has two funders: herself and her brother. “I own the business, and he’s helping me,” she says. “There’s no one else involved at the time.”

She realized from the beginning that she’d have to differentiate Violet Flame from Vosges. To that end, she’s been sourcing even rarer and higher-end ingredients from around the world: French raspberries, Peruvian milk, Thai pandan leaf.

And then there’s the $2,000- a-pound lion’s mane flakes, the star ingredient of one of her signature truffles, priced at $55 for a set of 16. Lion’s mane mushrooms look like white pompoms and are used, particularly in Asian cuisines, as both food and medicine.

In many ways, Violet Flame synthesizes multiple passions of Markoff’s. She studied chemistry and psychology at Vanderbilt University, then decamped to Paris to train at Le Cordon Bleu. Subsequent travels throughout Europe, Southeast Asia and elsewhere further expanded her culi -

CONDOS

From Page 3

e drop means “you’re pricing it to the market now, you’re not going after the gotta-have-it buyer who will pay for the specialness.”

Lee Golub, principal of Golub Real Estate, the tower’s redeveloper in partnership with CIM Group, did not respond to Crain’s request for comment. Neither did Jeanne Martini, who heads the sales e ort for the condos. e buyers of the $4.37 million unit are not yet identi ed in public records, and the listing does not name the agent who represented them.

Twelve condos in the building, including this latest unit, have sold for $4 million or more, according to Crain’s research in the records of the Cook County Clerk. at includes a marquee $8 million sale in September 2021 and two units that went around that

OFFICE SPACE

From Page 3

with clients and each other,” onn said.

PwC encouraged employees to work together in person one to three days per week as effects of the pandemic waned, then formalized an expectation last year that its staff spend 50% of their work time in person with colleagues or clients, according to a spokeswoman. “We have a vibrant and active in-office community, which is energizing to

The

nary knowledge.

Markoff hopes a slow, conscious approach to her candies — both making them and eating them — will set Violet Flame apart.

“I really am such a fan of the study of energetics, frequency, quantum physics, and the power of beliefs and desires to affect outcomes,” she says.

That focus influenced her search this summer for an industrial kitchen. In the end, she chose two small facilities — one in Deerfield, the other in Indianapolis.

“It’s very hard to nd a place that will do a smaller amount of product, that will allow me to come in and make the chocolates with their team,” Marko says. “In both of these places, they’re open to the way I’m talking about conscious infusion in chocolate. I said, ‘I want to make the absolute top chocolates in the world. In order to do that, we need to be aligned with our spirits and open

same time for more than $5 million each.

When the models opened three years ago, Martini said 63 units were priced at $4 million or more. at’s 50 more than have sold at that price level.

e 37% drop in price on the just-sold 23rd- oor unit is attributable in part to the hard knocks that the 2020s have delivered to the downtown condo market. A pandemic that shut down the ofces and cultural attractions that gave downtown its vibrancy, followed by a crime problem that further dimmed the appeal of North Michigan Avenue, together weakened a uent buyers’ taste for downtown condos.

e Tribune is not the only building whose sales have suffered in the tumult of recent years. e price on a Streeterville penthouse has been cut by more than half since it rst went up for sale in 2019. And a 48th- oor condo at

me,” Thonn said. onn said the rm explored relocating to downtown areas north and west of the Chicago River, but employees made it clear they liked the current spot near public transportation and pushed PwC to stay put in the tower it has called home since the building opened in 2001. at decision notched a major victory for Irvine, the Newport Beach, Calif.-based real estate rm that has owned the 50-story Wacker Drive tower since 2015.

Locking up its anchor tenant on a new long-term deal comes a couple of months after Irvine signed a

to the process.’ ”

The new company’s name is also a nod to its “elevate your spirit” ethos, which Markoff drew from a visualization associated with an 18th-century alchemist. The core concept of the violet flame meditation is to convert negative energy into an opportunity for positive growth. That notion ultimately helped her recover from massive upheaval in both the personal and professional realms.

Five years ago, her husband was hospitalized with septic shock, which doctors didn’t expect him to survive. Juggling the needs of her spouse, two young children and her company became too much to balance, Markoff recalls: “The business did not do well in 2019 because I wasn’t present.”

The following year delivered new rounds of stress and financial uncertainty when COVID descended. Although Vosges picked back up after supply channels reopened, she and her husband began divorce proceedings in 2023; meanwhile, La Montagne Holdings bought the assets of Vosges, which has annual revenue estimated in the $21 million range. Financial terms of the LMH deal were not disclosed.

“My intention with LMH was to have the opportunity to get operations and finance support,” she says. “They could focus on the back of the house, and I could focus on the front.” But this

the Waldorf-Astoria on Walton Street sold last month for $3.55 million, below its 2021 sale price and even further below the gure it sold for in 2011, $5.5 million.

But it’s not enough to say the building is a victim of the 2020s.

ere are also factors in the Tribune condos themselves that have made it a tougher sell than expected, real estate professionals say.

‘Wasn’t built to be condos’

“ at building is gorgeous and has amenities that are really second to none in the city,” says Vince Anzalone, the Dream Town Realty agent who represented the $8 million attempted resale.

“But it wasn’t built to be condos,” Anzalone says. “It was built (in 1923) when o ce windows were smaller and Mies van der Rohe hadn’t shown us what we can do with more glass. Some of the units don’t get much natural light that people expect in an

new long-term extension with law rm Barnes & ornburg, which expanded its footprint in the building to about 96,000 square feet. ose wins have helped as two other tenants, Northwestern Mutual and Aquatic Capital Management, prepare to leave the building for the revamped tower at 225 W. Randolph St. Another large tenant in the Wacker Drive building, UBS, reduced its footprint in the building by about 100,000 square feet before the pandemic.

“Irvine Company continues to see strong leasing momentum in our Chicago portfolio and we are

spring, Markoff realized the new status quo wasn’t what she’d envisioned, so “we decided to part ways.”

Asked to comment, Vosges provided this statement: “Katrina infused Vosges HautChocolat with a passion for exploring the world through chocolate, shaping a brand deeply rooted in curiosity, innovation, and the art of storytelling.”

Violet Flame’s website allows people to order individual boxes of truffles, toffee or gianduia — or to purchase a monthly subscription. “The Cacao Spiritus Club is what I’m really excited about,” she says. “We’re going to create this community around a monthly biodynamic club. We’re following the lunar calendar, making the chocolates on the full moon.”

Every month, in addition to 10 truffles and a tasting guide, subscribers will receive a special gift to enhance the experience, such as handmade incense or matcha tea. Customers are encouraged to enjoy the tasting at home during a live virtual ritual under Markoff’s guidance. “It’s meant to be a 10- to 15-minute experience where you’re just sitting with yourself, getting into the present moment, into the field of awareness by tasting the chocolates,” she says.

“I don’t need the business to be big,” she adds. “I really want it to be just the right size, highly curated, for people who are really into best in class.”

A-plus building.”

Anzalone and Skowron both say the building’s location on Michigan Avenue’s Pioneer Court may seem to some like an exciting spot to live on, but “people usually prefer to live a few blocks o the main street and be able to go over” to Michigan for shopping, dining and strolling, Anzalone says.

None of this is to say the building shouldn’t have gone condo. e amenities, including terraces nestled beneath the tower’s iconic arched buttresses, a monumental lobby and an array of well-tailored common areas inside and out, are superb.

To say nothing of the fact that the tower is a treasured landmark that nobody wants to see demolished. It was going to need a new use after the newspaper company moved out of its venerable home in 2018, and if it had gone to o ces or some other commercial use, the 2020s might have hit it even harder.

pleased PwC is renewing at One North Wacker,” Irvine O ce Properties President Roger DeWames said in a statement. e tower is 91% leased today, according to Irvine. Irvine recently put $10 million into a renovation of the tower's 17,000-square-foot amenity oor, including a lounge with a new coffee bar, a 4,600-square-foot conferencing center and an expansion of the building's tness center, according to the rm. CBRE brokers negotiated the lease extension on behalf of PwC. Irvine's in-house leasing team represented the landlord.

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