Penny Pritzker

Penny Sue Pritzker (born May 2, 1959) is an American heiress, businesswoman, and lawyer who served from 2013 to 2017 as the 38th United States secretary of commerce.[1]

Pritzker is a member of the prominent Pritzker family and was involved with the family business from a young age. She was eventually appointed as one of three successors to her uncle, Jay Pritzker. She is the founder of finance and real estate concerns PSP Partners, PSP Capital Partners, and Pritzker Realty Group, and co-founder of Artemis Real Estate Partners and Inspired Capital. She is on the board of Microsoft and was chair of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. As of May 2025, Forbes estimated her net worth at $3.9 billion.[2] In 2009, Forbes named Pritzker one of the 100 most powerful women in the world. She is the sister of Illinois governor JB Pritzker.

Pritzker has been involved in several Chicago-based organizations, including the Chicago Board of Education, Museum of Contemporary Art, and her own foundation, the Pritzker Traubert Family Foundation. A friend of the Obama family since their Chicago years, Pritzker was an early supporter of Barack Obama's presidential candidacy.

Pritzker family businesses

term start1	June 26, 2013

term end1	January 20, 2017

predecessor1	John Bryson

successor1	Wilbur Ross

birth name	Penny Sue Pritzker

birth date	May 2, 1959

birth place	Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

party	Democratic

spouse	Bryan Traubert

children	2

parents	Donald Pritzker (father) Sue Sandel (mother)

relatives	JB Pritzker (brother) Anthony Pritzker (brother) Pritzker family

education	Harvard University (BA) Stanford University (JD, MBA)

Early ventures

After earning her degrees, Pritzker joined the Pritzker organization encouraged by her cousin Nick Pritzker.[1][13] In 1987, she founded Classic Residence by Hyatt, later renamed Vi, upscale housing for seniors as an alternative to nursing homes.[1] The project struggled at first, losing $40million in the first 18months, but turned around after changes in marketing and management.[1] In 1991, Prtizker's uncle, Jay Pritzker, who led the Pritzker family businesses named Pritzker as the director of the family's' non-hotel landholdings. With that appointment, Pritzker created the Pritzker Realty Group, which developed apartment buildings, shopping centers, and the Baldwin Park neighborhood in Orlando, Florida.[14]

Superior Bank

From 1991 to 1994, Pritzker was chairperson of the Hinsdale, Illinois-based Superior Bank of Chicago, in which Jay Pritzker had purchased a 50% stake from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, who had taken over the bank when it failed. In 1993, the bank "embarked on a business strategy of significant growth into subprime home mortgages", according to a report by the United States Treasury Department.[15] In 2000, it became clear the bank was faltering. For months near the end of 2000, the Pritzkers tried to work out a recapitalization plan.[15] In July 2001, the FDIC seized the bank after the recapitalization could not be resolved.[16][17][18] Subsequently, the Pritzker family reached an agreement with regulators to pay $460million.[15]

Superior Bank

Leadership and dissolution

In 1995, Pritzker was named as one of three successors to the retiring Jay Pritzker besides his son Tom and his cousin Nick. Tom was named the official head of the businesses, Pritzker and Nick were each named vice-chairman.[24] Together, the three were to oversee the family assets.[24] Jay intended to keep the family business together, devising a system of trusts that would allow individual family members to receive money from the trusts to meet their needs; however, the family's wealth was to be primarily maintained in the trusts to grow the businesses and fund philanthropic endeavors. The Pritzker business empire contained over 200 businesses and was valued at $15billion.[24]

After Jay Pritzker's death in 1999, other family members challenged Tom, Nick, and Penny Pritzker's control of the businesses in multiple lawsuits.[1][25]

Government and political involvement

Pritzker's friendship with Barack Obama and his family dates to the 1990s, when he was a senior lecturer at The University of Chicago law school.[1] Pritzker met Obama at a Chicago YMCA where her son participated in a basketball program coached by Obama's brother-in-law Craig Robinson.[9][31] Obama and his family were frequent guests at Pritzker's Lake Michigan vacation home.[1][32] She was an early supporter of Obama's political career, helping finance his 2004 Senate campaign. Early in the Democratic presidential primary, Pritzker's financing helped Obama's candidacy survive when he was trailing Hillary Clinton in the polls.[32] Pritzker remained a major fundraiser for Obama during the 2008 Democratic primary and raised millions overall for his White House bid.[1] She served as the national finance chair of Obama's 2008 presidential campaign.[33] Under her direction, the campaign reached out to small donors. Pritzker also hosted more lavish fundraisers as part of her effort to raise money.[34]

After Obama won the 2008 presidential election, CNN reported that Pritzker was his top choice for Commerce Secretary,[35] but she withdrew her name from consideration.[36][37][38] According to the Chicago Tribune, she did so because of her "obligations to her family, for whom she was still overseeing billions in assets, and the financial crisis, which was putting some of those assets at risk".[39] As a result of her public support for Obama, Pritzker found herself the target of labor groups for Hyatt Hotels' practices. When UNITE HERE demonstrated against Pritzker, its president cited her connection to Obama as a reason the group expected her to use better labor practices.[32]

Pritzker was a member of the President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness and served on the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board. Although she was less active in Obama's 2012 campaign than she had been in 2008,[32] she served as national co-chair of Obama for America 2012.[33] She was also on the board of directors of the Council on Foreign Relations,[40][41] a nonpartisan think tank focused on world affairs and U.S. foreign policy. President Joe Biden appointed her as U.S. special representative for Ukraine's economic recovery in 2023.[42]

Civic and philanthropic activities

Pritzker was a member of the Chicago Board of Education and chaired the Chicago Public Education Fund.[63] She was advisory board chair of Skills for America's Future (SAF), a policy initiative of the Aspen Institute.[64] She also chaired the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago.[65] In 2002, Pritzker was elected to a six-year term on the 30-person Harvard Board of Overseers.[12] In 2018, she was elected to the Harvard Corporation, the 12-person group that governs Harvard University.[66] Pritzker donated $100 million to Harvard in 2021 for the construction of a new economics department building.[67] She became the first woman to serve in the Corporation's top role, senior fellow, in 2022.[68] After Harvard president Claudine Gay's resignation, Pritzker faced criticism and calls to resign as senior fellow from some prominent Harvard alumni and donors for the Corporation's handling of the events.[68][69][70]

Pritzker and her husband, Bryan Traubert, have their own foundation, the Pritzker Traubert Family Foundation. It focuses on physical activity for young people and increasing economic opportunity in Chicago.[71] Among its initiatives were a $5million donation to converting grass soccer fields to easier-to-maintain turf and a $1million donation to repair tennis courts around Chicago.[72] The Pritzkers also established ChicagoRun, a program that prepares Chicago-area children to run their first 5k race.[71]

In 2012, Chicago magazine named Pritzker one of the 100 most powerful Chicagoans.[73] On March 26, 2014, Elle honored Pritzker and others at the U.S. Italian Embassy during its annual "Women in Washington Power List".[74] In 2018, Pritzker was elected to succeed Harvey V. Fineberg as chairperson of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.[75]

In March 2020, Pritzker set up the Illinois COVID-19 Response Fund to assist nonprofit organizations during the COVID-19 pandemic after receiving a call from her brother Governor JB Pritzker. The siblings announced the creation of the fund with $23 million in startup money on March 24, 2020, six days after the governor's request. Pritzker and her husband contributed $1.5 million of that sum.[76][77]

office	United States Special Representative for Ukraine's Economic Recovery
president	Joe Biden
term start	September 14, 2023
term end	August 6, 2024
predecessor	Position established
successor	Position abolished
office1	38th United States Secretary of Commerce
president1	Barack Obama
deputy1	Patrick D. Gallagher (acting) Bruce H. Andrews

Early life and education

Pritzker family businesses

Early ventures

Superior Bank

Superior Bank

Leadership and dissolution

Government and political involvement

Secretary of Commerce (2013–2017)

Nomination and confirmation

Tenure

U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine's Economic Recovery

Civic and philanthropic activities

Personal life

See also

External links

References