Fahner, T

<p>The following statement is attributable to the We Are One Illinois union coalition, in response to the revelation by Ty Fahner, president of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago, that members of the Civic Committee lobbied the three major credit rating agencies to downgrade Illinois’ bond ratings:

 </p>

<p>“Ty Fahner and unnamed members of his corporate-backed committee have shown their true colors. Fahner bragged openly about joining members of the business-backed group, behind closed doors, in lobbying credit rating agencies to lower Illinois’ bond ratings in an irresponsible and unethical attempt to put the state in an even more difficult position. They show total contempt for the taxpaying public, total disregard for the difficult fiscal challenges the state faces, and total hypocrisy over their alleged care for the working families of Illinois.

“In addition, a serious conflict of interest may exist if either these unnamed CEOs or the big corporations they control profited in any way from lobbying to make Illinois pay more interest on its bonds — bonds which they or their corporations may hold.</p>

<p>

“Governor Pat Quinn should coordinate with the appropriate state and federal authorities to launch a full investigation into this matter. The public has a right to know whether any laws were violated and how much financial injury the Illinois taxpayers suffered at the hands of the corporate elite.”</p>

</div>

<p>Yesterday, Capitol Fax shared a video of Fahner speaking before the Union League Club, where he said, “Me and some of the people that make up the Civic Committee…did meet with and call…Moody’s and Fitch [Ratings] and Standard and Poor’s…and say, ‘How in the hell can you guys do this [i.e., maintain the state’s credit rating]? You know, you are an enabler to let the state continue. You keep threatening more and more and more.’”

Fahner then took credit for the subsequent downgrades to Illinois’ credit ratings, stating, “But if you watch what happened in the last few years, it’s been steadily down. Before that, it’s been the blind eye.”</p>

</blockquote>

<p> 

===</p>

<div class="byline economy"><span class="field field-name-field-sources field-type-node-reference field-label-hidden"><span class="field-items"><span class="field-item even">lteNet</span></span></span> / <em>By</em> <em><a href="http://www.alternet.org/authors/lynn-stuart-parramore">Lynn Stuart Parramore</a> <span class="print-footnote">[1]</span></em></div>

<h1 property="dc:title" datatype="" class="node-title">Bombshell: Plutocrats Brazenly Collude to Hurt State Economies and Screw Working People</h1>

</div>

<p>These days, many Americans walk around feeling like no matter how hard they work, how much they manage to save or how carefully they plan for the future, the game is rigged against them. They suspect that behind closed doors, CEOs and Wall Street honchos are eagerly scheming to rip them off.

Their worst fears of corruption and collusion just came true in Illinois, where corporate titans were caught red-handed in the act of Rigging the Game.

Let’s step inside a recent gathering of the corporate-backed Union League Club of Chicago, where former Illinois Attorney General Ty Fahner, who now leads a band of plutocrats known as the “Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago,” recently launched into an hour-long diatribe on the evils of state pensions.

Fahner, a top GOP fundraiser, can’t abide the notion that teachers, firefighters, nurses and other public workers in the state of Illinois can still expect a decent retirement. Not a luxurious retirement, mind you — the average pension is $32,000 a year, and most state employees will not receive Social Security. But even a modest retirement for hard-working people is too much for today’s fatcats.

Fahner is part of a virulent strain of public raiders and economic crackpots who have become dominant in the Republican Party (and increasingly among the Democrats, too) who are hell-bent on destroying unions and attacking public employees. Ultimately they wish to privatize everything and reduce their tax responsibilities down to nothing.

That’s why Fahner has declared war on pensions and is promoting a pension crisis in order to justify it<strong>.</strong>He has called for cost of living cuts, raising the retirement age, capping pension earnings and shifting the cost of the pension obligation of teachers to local school districts<strong>,</strong>many of which are too poor ever to pay<strong>.</strong>He styles himself as a savior who wants only to protect the public from debt, when in reality he is a brutal plutocrat who will stop at nothing to line his pockets at public expense and reduce his and his friends' taxes.

Illinois has real problems. However, Fahner desperately hopes the public will not catch on to the fact that states are having difficulty paying out pensions because of the lack of revenue caused by a Wall Street-driven financial crisis and the deep recession it set off, regressive taxes, and the myriad bond scams financiers have already inflicted on states, cities, towns, and municipalities which have triggered funding crises for pensions and other programs. (See "<a href="http://www.alternet.org/economy/wall-street-and-municipal-fraud">How Wall Street Fraudsters Plunder Public Finances, And 5 Ways to Fight Back</a> <span class="print-footnote">[2]</span>.")

Fahner has tried a number of dirty tricks to attack pensions in his career. But his most recent admission is absolutely breathtaking in its brazenness: He boasted of working to scam the Illinois bond rating.

During Fahner’s talk to the Union League Club, an unidentified person in the audience suggested that pressuring credit agencies to rig the state bond ratings in order to attack pensions might be a jolly good idea. Fahner gleefully replied that he had already thought about that — and his group has tried it.</p>

<p><strong>Audience member:</strong> “Maybe sometimes you gotta be irresponsible to be responsible. If a political solution really doesn’t produce a favorable outcome, maybe you really need a market solution. And a market solution, I don’t mean bankruptcy, I mean actually talking down the state rating even further so the state’s bonds essentially become below investment grade. And it drives up the borrowing cost to the state and all of us to a significant level enough that you really feel the public pressure…”

<strong>Fahner</strong>: “The Civic Committee, not me, but me and some of the people that make up the Civic Committee… did meet with and call – in one case in person – and a couple of calls to Moody’s and Fitch and Standard & Poors, and say, How in the hell can you guys do this?"</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Fahner went on to take credit for downgrades to Illinois credit ratings, saying, "If you watch what happened in the last few years, it's been steadily down.”

Check out the video at minutes 46:30 to 49:43 for the full remarks on the ratings scam: “<a href="http://capitolfax.com/2013/07/23/fahner-civic-committee-helped-jaw-down-states-bond-rating/">Fahner: Civic Committee helped jaw down state’s bond rating</a> <span class="print-footnote">[3]</span>.”

As the audience member correctly adduced, pushing down the bond rating is a great way to screw workers, the state and taxpayers. Pension funds buy bonds, often from the state, to stay financially healthy. In order for the pension fund to buy the bond, it must have a passing grade. If the grade is lowered, say from A to B, the price of the bond goes down, and the pension fund will suffer a loss. If the bond rating is dropped below a minimum standard, then the pension fund must sell the bond, and take a much bigger loss.

Lowering the bond rating also has the effect of artificially inflating the interest rates that bond holders must pay on future bonds, making them more expensive to buy and reducing the state’s ability to borrow. The basic idea is to manufacture a crisis by financially starving pension funds. Fahner & Co. know this will put political pressure on Illinoisans to take away worker pension benefits.

In a nutshell, here’s what the video reveals:</p>

<ul>

<li>Corporate honchos — some of whom may have a vested financial interest in Illinois bonds — feel perfectly comfortable calling and exerting pressure on ratings agencies.</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>Ratings agencies are political entities whose supposedly impartial research can be influenced and perhaps even bought.</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>CEOs think nothing of willingly and knowingly screwing the bond rating and economic standing of their home state in order to enact their anti-worker philosophy and fatten their own bank accounts.</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>Proclaiming you are “fixing” state fiscal problems is a great cover for potential insider self-dealing in the bond market.</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>Committing economic treason against fellow citizens and taxpayers is simply a matter of course for today’s American plutocrats.</li>

</ul>

<p>The We Are One Illinois union coalition has <a href="http://www.weareoneillinois.org/news/coalition-calls-for-investigation-into-corporate-ceos-who-lobbied-for-illinois-bond-downgrades">released a statement</a> <span class="print-footnote">[4]</span> condemning Fahner and calling for an investigation into the matter:</p>

<blockquote>"Ty Fahner and unnamed members of his corporate-backed committee have shown their true colors. Fahner bragged openly about joining members of the business-backed group, behind closed doors, in lobbying credit rating agencies to lower Illinois' bond ratings in an irresponsible and unethical attempt to put the state in an even more difficult position. They show total contempt for the taxpaying public, total disregard for the difficult fiscal challenges the state faces, and total hypocrisy over their alleged care for the working families of Illinois.”</blockquote>

<blockquote>In addition, a serious conflict of interest may exist if either these unnamed CEOs or the big corporations they control profited in any way from lobbying to make Illinois pay more interest on its bonds—bonds which they or their corporations may hold.”</blockquote>

<p>All right. What the hell can be done about this shameless hustle?

The state attorney general should immediately open an investigation into whether any members of Fahner’s group sold bonds before the downgrades, based on their conversations. That is plainly insider trading. Everyone who held bonds at the time of the downgrades also took a loss. Attorneys general and treasurers in other states whose portfolios took a hit should also consider suing, given that political pressure seems to have played a role in causing their losses. Ditto for private holders and other unions—anyone who had the bonds at the time of the downgrade.

It’s time for the trustees of the pension funds to stand up for those whose interests they are charged with protecting, and not shrug off one more crime against the public interest that reduces pensions for working people.</p>

</div>

</div>

<div class="tags"><em>See more stories tagged with:</em>

<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/attorney-general" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel">attorney general</a> <span class="print-footnote">[5]</span>,</div>

<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/business-0" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel">business</a> <span class="print-footnote">[7]</span>,</div>

<div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/civic-committee" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel">Civic Committee</a> <span class="print-footnote">[8]</span>,</div>

<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/commercial-club-chicago" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel">Commercial Club of Chicago</a> <span class="print-footnote">[9]</span>,</div>

<div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/credit-rating-agency" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel">Credit rating agency</a> <span class="print-footnote">[10]</span>,</div>

<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/debt-financing" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel">Debt Financing</a> <span class="print-footnote">[11]</span>,</div>

<div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/economics-0" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel">economics</a> <span class="print-footnote">[12]</span>,</div>

<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/fahner-co" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel">Fahner & Co.</a> <span class="print-footnote">[13]</span>,</div>

<div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/finance-0" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel">finance</a> <span class="print-footnote">[14]</span>,</div>

<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/financial-economics" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel">Financial economics</a> <span class="print-footnote">[15]</span>,</div>

<div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/financial-services-0" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel">financial services</a> <span class="print-footnote">[16]</span>,</div>

<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/illinois-0" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel">illinois</a> <span class="print-footnote">[17]</span>,</div>

<div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/investment-0" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel">investment</a> <span class="print-footnote">[18]</span>,</div>

<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/labor-0" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel">labor</a> <span class="print-footnote">[19]</span>,</div>

<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/pension-0" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel">pension</a> <span class="print-footnote">[21]</span>,</div>

<div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/pensions-crisis" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel">Pensions crisis</a> <span class="print-footnote">[22]</span>,</div>

<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/person-career" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel">Person Career</a> <span class="print-footnote">[23]</span>,</div>

<div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/person-location" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel">Person Location</a> <span class="print-footnote">[24]</span>,</div>

<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/republican-party" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel">republican party</a> <span class="print-footnote">[25]</span>,</div>

<div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/social-issues-0" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel">social issues</a> <span class="print-footnote">[26]</span>,</div>

<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/ty-fahner" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel">Ty Fahner</a> <span class="print-footnote">[27]</span>,</div>

<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/union-league-club-chicago" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel">Union League Club of Chicago</a> <span class="print-footnote">[29]</span>,</div>

<div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/union-league-club" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel">Union League Club</a> <span class="print-footnote">[30]</span>,</div>

<div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/business-backed" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel">business-backed</a> <span class="print-footnote">[32]</span>,</div>

<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/fundraiser-0" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel">fundraiser</a> <span class="print-footnote">[33]</span>,</div>

<div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/political-solution" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel">political solution</a> <span class="print-footnote">[34]</span></div>

</div>

</div>

<div class="print-source_url"><strong>Source URL:</strong> <a href="http://www.alternet.org/economy/illinois-pension-attack-collusion">http://www.alternet.org/economy/illinois-pension-attack-collusion</a></div>

<p><strong>Links:</strong>

[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/lynn-stuart-parramore

[2] http://www.alternet.org/economy/wall-street-and-municipal-fraud

[3] http://capitolfax.com/2013/07/23/fahner-civic-committee-helped-jaw-down-states-bond-rating/

[4] http://www.weareoneillinois.org/news/coalition-calls-for-investigation-into-corporate-ceos-who-lobbied-for-illinois-bond-downgrades

[5] http://www.alternet.org/tags/attorney-general

[6] http://www.alternet.org/tags/bond

[7] http://www.alternet.org/tags/business-0

[8] http://www.alternet.org/tags/civic-committee

[9] http://www.alternet.org/tags/commercial-club-chicago

[10] http://www.alternet.org/tags/credit-rating-agency

[11] http://www.alternet.org/tags/debt-financing

[12] http://www.alternet.org/tags/economics-0

[13] http://www.alternet.org/tags/fahner-co

[14] http://www.alternet.org/tags/finance-0

[15] http://www.alternet.org/tags/financial-economics

[16] http://www.alternet.org/tags/financial-services-0

[17] http://www.alternet.org/tags/illinois-0

[18] http://www.alternet.org/tags/investment-0

[19] http://www.alternet.org/tags/labor-0

[20] http://www.alternet.org/tags/paul-ryan-0

[21] http://www.alternet.org/tags/pension-0

[22] http://www.alternet.org/tags/pensions-crisis

[23] http://www.alternet.org/tags/person-career

[24] http://www.alternet.org/tags/person-location

[25] http://www.alternet.org/tags/republican-party

[26] http://www.alternet.org/tags/social-issues-0

[27] http://www.alternet.org/tags/ty-fahner

[28] http://www.alternet.org/tags/usd

[29] http://www.alternet.org/tags/union-league-club-chicago

[30] http://www.alternet.org/tags/union-league-club

[31] http://www.alternet.org/tags/bank-0

[32] http://www.alternet.org/tags/business-backed

[33] http://www.alternet.org/tags/fundraiser-0

[34] http://www.alternet.org/tags/political-solution

[35] <a href="http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B">http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B</a>

</p>

</div>

<p>

The Civic Committee was at the forefront of charter school legislation in 1996 and played a key role in increasing the number of charter schools in 2003 and 2010.

To foster the movement, we created <a class="cc-external" href="http://www.newschoolsnow.org/" target="_blank">New Schools for Chicago</a> to deal with the issue of school choice head-on.  A full-time staff aggressively advocates for and supports charter schools in Chicago.  

Another one of our affiliated organizations, <a class="cc-external" href="http://www.ccachicago.org/" target="_blank">The Civic Consulting Alliance</a>, restructured the City Colleges of Chicago to improve the quality of education and provide students with the necessary skills for finishing college and finding gainful employment.

===

<b>SNR Denton</b> was a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multinational_corporation" title="Multinational corporation">multinational</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_firm" title="Law firm">law firm</a> co-headquartered in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London" title="London">London</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom" title="United Kingdom">United Kingdom</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington,_D.C." title="Washington, D.C.">Washington, D.C.</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States" title="United States">United States</a>. The firm operated in 60 locations across 43 countries and had around 1,250 lawyers.<sup id="cite_ref-washpost_3-1" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNR_Denton#cite_note-washpost-3"><span>[</span>3<span>]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-overview_6-0" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNR_Denton#cite_note-overview-6"><span>[</span>6<span>]</span></a></sup> It was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_100_largest_law_firms_globally" title="List of 100 largest law firms globally" class="mw-redirect">one of the 25-largest law firms in the world</a>, with revenues of around $750 million in 2011/12.<sup id="cite_ref-washpost_3-2" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNR_Denton#cite_note-washpost-3"><span>[</span>3<span>]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNR_Denton#cite_note-7"><span>[</span>7<span>]</span></a></sup>

SNR Denton was formed through the merger of UK-based <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denton_Wilde_Sapte" title="Denton Wilde Sapte">Denton Wilde Sapte LLP</a> and U.S.-based <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonnenschein_Nath_%26_Rosenthal_LLP" title="Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP" class="mw-redirect">Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP</a> in September 2010.<sup id="cite_ref-lawyer300910_5-1" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNR_Denton#cite_note-lawyer300910-5"><span>[</span>5<span>]</span></a></sup> The firm was structured as a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_Verein" title="Swiss Verein">Swiss Verein</a> and had a single management board but the partnerships of the predecessor firms were not financially integrated.<sup id="cite_ref-washpost_3-3" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNR_Denton#cite_note-washpost-3"><span>[</span>3<span>]</span></a></sup> In March 2013, SNR Denton merged with the international law firm <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salans" title="Salans">Salans</a> and the Canada-based law firm <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraser_Milner_Casgrain" title="Fraser Milner Casgrain">Fraser Milner Casgrain</a>, forming <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dentons" title="Dentons">Dentons</a>.

<i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_American_Lawyer" title="The American Lawyer">The American Lawyer</a></i> estimated SNR Denton to be the 29th largest law firm in the world by number of lawyers<sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNR_Denton#cite_note-8"><span>[</span>8<span>]</span></a></sup> and 43rd by annual revenue<sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNR_Denton#cite_note-9"><span>[</span>9<span>]</span></a></sup> as of 2012, its last full year of operation.

===</p>

<p>

<strong>Chairman, EDWARD M. LIDDY</strong>

Retired Chairman and Chief Executive Officer - The Allstate Corporation*

<strong>Vice Chairman, FREDERICK H. WADDELL</strong>

Chairman & CEO - Northern Trust Corporation

<strong>President, TYRONE C. FAHNER</strong>

President, Civic Committee of The Commercial Club of Chicago</p>

<hr />

<p><strong>GARY D. AHLQUIST</strong>

Senior Vice President and Managing Partner

Booz & Company

<strong>JOHN P. AMBOIAN</strong>

Chief Executive Officer - Nuveen Investments, Inc.

<strong>THOMAS L. BERNARDIN</strong>

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer - Leo Burnett Worldwide

<strong>NORMAN R. BOBINS</strong>

Retired Chairman - LaSalle Bank Corporation*

<strong>WILLIAM J. BRODSKY</strong>

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer - Chicago Board Options Exchange

<strong>GREG Q. BROWN</strong>

Chairman & Chief Executive Officer - Motorola Solutions

Chairman & Chief Executive Officer - The John Buck Company

<strong>JOHN A. CANNING, JR.</strong>

Chairman - Madison Dearborn Partners, LLC

<strong>PATRICK J. CANNING</strong>

Managing Partner - KPMG LLP

<strong>GREGORY C. CASE</strong>

President and Chief Executive Officer - Aon Corporation

<strong>THOMAS A. COLE</strong>

Chairman, Executive Committee - Sidley Austin LLP

<strong>SEAN CONNOLLY</strong>

President and Chief Executive Officer - The Hillshire Brands Company

<strong>ELLEN COSTELLO</strong>

CEO and US Countryhead - BMO Financial Corp.

<strong>CHRISTOPHER M. CRANE</strong>

President and Chief Executive Officer - Exelon Corporation

<strong>JAMES S. CROWN</strong>

President - Henry Crown and Company

<strong>LESTER CROWN</strong>

Chairman - CC Industries, Inc.

<strong>STEPHEN A. CRUISE</strong>

Managing Director and Co-Head Chicago Office and Midwest Region - UBS Investment Bank

<strong>DEBORAH L. DEHAAS</strong>

Vice Chairman and Central Region Managing Partner and Chief Inclusion Officer- Deloitte LLP

<strong>MARY N. DILLON</strong>

President and Chief Executive Officer - U.S. Cellular

<strong>WILLIAM J. DOYLE</strong>

President and Chief Executive Officer - PotashCorp

<strong>CRAIG J. DUCHOSSOIS</strong>

Chief Executive Officer - The Duchossois Group, Inc.

<strong>ROBERT A. EASTER</strong>

President - University of Illinois

<strong>HON. RAHM EMANUEL*</strong>

Mayor - City of Chicago

<strong>JOHN R. ETTELSON</strong>

President and Chief Executive Officer - William Blair & Company

<strong>CHARLES L. EVANS</strong>

President and Chief Executive Officer - Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

<strong>W. JAMES FARRELL</strong>

Retired Chairman & CEO, Illinois Tool Works, Inc.*

<strong>RICK FEZELL</strong>

Vice Chairman and Midwest Managing Partner - Ernst & Young LLP

<strong>THOMAS P. FITZGERALD</strong>

Managing Partner - Winston & Strawn LLP

<strong>MICHAEL T. FOLEY</strong>

Chief Executive Officer, Zurich North America Commercial and Regional Chairman of the Americas

<strong>MATTHEW R. GIBSON</strong>

Partner, Head of Investment Banking, Midwest Region - Goldman, Sachs & Co.

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer - Flying Food Group, LLC

<strong>JAMES T. GLERUM, JR.</strong>

Managing Director and Chairman, Regional Banking for North America - Citigroup, Corporate and Investment Banking

<strong>RICHARD C. GODFREY</strong>

Partner - Kirkland & Ellis LLP

<strong>RICHARD A. GONZALEZ</strong>

Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer - AbbVie

<strong>ILENE S. GORDON</strong>

Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer - Ingredion

<strong>JOSEPH A. GREGOIRE</strong>

State Chairman for Illinois Banking - PNC Bank

<strong>KENNETH C. GRIFFIN</strong>

Founder and Chief Executive Officer - Citadel, LLC.

<strong>PATRICIA HEMINGWAY HALL</strong>

President and Chief Executive Officer - Health Care Service Corporation

<strong>JAY L. HENDERSON</strong>

Vice Chairman, Client Service - PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

<strong>THOMAS W. HORTON</strong>

President and Chief Executive Officer - AMR Corporation / American Airlines, Inc.

<strong>TONY W. HUNTER</strong>

Chief Executive Officer - Tribune Publishing Company

<strong>LESTER B. KNIGHT III</strong>

Founding Partner - RoundTable Healthcare Partners

<strong>FRED A. KREHBIEL</strong>

Co-Chairman - Molex Incorporated

<strong>MATTHEW KRENTZ</strong>

Senior Partner and Managing Director - The Boston Consulting Group, Inc.

<strong>PAUL V. LA SCHIAZZA</strong>

President - AT&T Illinois

<strong>EDWARD M. LIDDY</strong>

Retired Chairman and Chief Executive Officer - The Allstate Corporation*

<strong>DONALD G. LUBIN</strong>

Partner - Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP*

<strong>JOHN W. MADIGAN</strong>

Retired Chairman and Chief Executive Officer - Tribune Company*

<strong>TIMOTHY P. MALONEY</strong>

Illinois President - Bank of America

<strong>JOE MANSUETO</strong>

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer - Morningstar, Inc.

<strong>R. EDEN MARTIN</strong>

Former President - Civic Committee*

<strong>LESTER H. MCKEEVER, JR.</strong>

Managing Principal - Washington, Pittman & McKeever, LLC

<strong>ANDREW J. MCKENNA</strong>

Chairman - Schwarz Supply Source

Chairman - McDonald's Corporation

<strong>W. JAMES MCNERNEY, JR.</strong>

Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer - The Boeing Company

<strong>JAMES S. METCALF</strong>

President and Chief Executive Officer - USG Corporation

<strong>DAVID W. NELMS</strong>

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer - Discover Financial Services

<strong>WILLIAM A. OSBORN</strong>

Retired Chairman & Chief Executive Officer - Northern Trust Corporation*

<strong>ROBERT L. PARKINSON, JR</strong>

Chairman & Chief Executive Officer - Baxter International Inc.

<strong>SHEILA PENROSE</strong>

Chairman - Jones Lang LaSalle, Inc.

<strong>DONALD S. PERKINS</strong>

Retired Chairman - Jewel Companies, Inc.*

<strong>P. CODY PHIPPS</strong>

President and Chief Executive Officer - United Stationers

<strong>RICHARD S. PRICE</strong>

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer - Mesirow Financial

<strong>PENNY PRITZKER</strong>

Chairman - PSP Capital

<strong>THOMAS J. PRITZKER</strong>

Chairman - Hyatt Hotels Corporation

<strong>FRANK S. PTAK</strong>

President and Chief Executive Officer - The Marmon Group, LLC

<strong>BRUCE V. RAUNER</strong>

Chairman - GTCR, LLC

<strong>ELIZABETH W. REESE</strong>

President - Nicor Gas, an AGL Resources Company

<strong>J. CHRISTOPHER REYES</strong>

Chairman - Reyes Holdings, LLC

<strong>THOMAS E. RICHARDS</strong>

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer - CDW LLC

<strong>JOHN W. ROGERS, JR.</strong>

Chairman & Chief Executive Officer - Ariel Investments, LLC

Chairman Emeritus - Exelon Corporation

<strong>JAMES T. RYAN</strong>

Chairman - President, and Chief Executive Officer - W. W. Grainger, Inc.

<strong>PATRICK G. RYAN</strong>

Chairman - Ryan Specialty Group

<strong>MICHAEL J. SACKS</strong>

Chief Executive Officer - Grosvenor Capital Management, L.P.

<strong>JOHN F. SANDNER</strong>

Retired Chairman of the Board, Member of the Executive Committee - CME Group

<strong>E. SCOTT SANTI</strong>

President and Chief Executive Officer - ITW

<strong>MORTON O. SCHAPIRO</strong>

President - Northwestern University

<strong>CHARLES A. SCHROCK</strong>

Chairman, President and CEO - Integrys Energy Group, Inc.

<strong>MICHAEL D. SCIMO</strong>

Managing Director, Chicago Office - Accenture

<strong>GORDON I. SEGAL</strong>

Chairman - Crate & Barrel

<strong>JEFFERY A. SMISEK</strong>

President & Chief Executive Officer - United Continental Holdings, Inc.

<strong>HARRISON I. STEANS</strong>

Chairman of the Executive Committee - Financial Investments Corporation

<strong>RICHARD K. SYKES</strong>

Managing Partner - Midwest Office, McKinsey & Company, Inc.

<strong>PAUL W. THEISS</strong>

Chairman - Mayer Brown LLP

<strong>RICHARD L. THOMAS</strong>

Retired Chairman - First Chicago NBD Corporation*

<strong>DON THOMPSON</strong>

President and Chief Executive Officer - McDonald's Corporation

<strong>GLENN TILTON</strong>

Chairman of the Midwest Region - JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Chairman of the Board - United Continental Holdings, Inc.

<strong>MICHAEL J. TOWER</strong>

Partner - A.T. Kearney. Inc.

<strong>FREDERICK H. WADDELL</strong>

Chairman & CEO - Northern Trust Corporation

<strong>GREGORY D. WASSON</strong>

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer - Walgreen Co.

<strong>DAVID B. WEINBERG</strong>

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer - Judd Enterprises, Inc.

<strong>MILES D. WHITE</strong>

Chairman & CEO, Abbott

<strong>THOMAS J. WILSON</strong>

Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer -The Allstate Corporation

<strong>W. ROCKWELL WIRTZ</strong>

President - Wirtz Corporation

<strong>ROBERT J. ZIMMER</strong>

President - University of Chicago

===</p>