1. Penny Sue Pritzker was born on May 2,1959 and is an American billionaire heiress, businesswoman and lawyer who served as the 38th United States secretary of commerce in the Obama administration from 2013 to 2017.
46 Facts About Penny Pritzker
1. 2.
Penny Pritzker was eventually appointed as one of three successors to her uncle, Jay Pritzker.
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Penny Pritzker is the founder of PSP Partners, PSP Capital Partners, and Pritzker Realty Group, and co-founder of Artemis Real Estate Partners and Inspired Capital.
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Penny Pritzker is on the board of Microsoft and was chair of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
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Penny Pritzker is the sister of J B Pritzker, the current governor of Illinois.
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Penny Pritzker has been a fellow of the Harvard Corporation since 2018 and was elected Senior Fellow in 2022, the first woman to serve in this capacity.
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Penny Pritzker has primary responsibility for financial oversight, and for the presidential selection process.
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Penny Pritzker was born in Chicago in 1959, the daughter of Sue and Donald Penny Pritzker.
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Penny Pritzker is a member of the Pritzker family of Chicago, a wealthy and influential Jewish business family.
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Penny Pritzker moved the family to Atherton, California southeast of San Mateo, where business for Hyatt began to grow.
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In 1972, Penny Pritzker's father died suddenly of a heart attack and her mother began battling depression.
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Penny Pritzker had to act as a caregiver at times for her mother and younger brothers.
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Penny Pritzker attended Castilleja School in Palo Alto, California until 1977.
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Penny Pritzker graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in economics from Harvard College in 1981.
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Penny Pritzker returned to school, earning both a Juris Doctor and an MBA from Stanford University in 1985.
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Subsequently, the Penny Pritzker family reached an agreement with regulators to pay $460million.
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Penny Pritzker said the bank complied with "fair lending laws" and ethical business practices.
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In 1995, Penny Pritzker was named as one of three successors to the retiring Jay Penny Pritzker besides his son Tom and his cousin Nick.
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The Pritzker Realty Group sold Parking Spot, an airport parking management business Penny co-founded in 1998, to Green Courte Partners LLC for $360million in 2011.
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Altogether, Penny Pritzker started five companies before joining the federal government.
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Penny Pritzker's friendship with Barack Obama and his family dates back to the 1990s when he was a senior lecturer at the law school at The University of Chicago.
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Penny Pritzker met Obama at a Chicago YMCA where her son participated in a basketball program coached by Obama's brother-in-law Craig Robinson.
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Penny Pritzker was an early supporter of Obama's political career, helping to finance his 2004 Senate campaign.
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Early in the Democratic presidential primary, Penny Pritzker's financing helped Obama's candidacy survive when Obama was trailing Hillary Clinton in the polls.
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Penny Pritzker remained a major fundraiser for Obama during the 2008 Democratic primary and raised millions overall for his White House bid.
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Penny Pritzker served as the national finance chair of Obama's 2008 presidential campaign.
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Penny Pritzker hosted more lavish fundraisers as part of her effort to raise money.
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Penny Pritzker was a member of the President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.
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Penny Pritzker served on the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board.
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Penny Pritzker was on the board of directors of the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonpartisan think tank focused on world affairs and US foreign policy.
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Penny Pritzker was appointed by President Joe Biden as US special representative for Ukraine's economic recovery in 2023.
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Penny Pritzker was nominated as United States Secretary of Commerce by President Barack Obama on May 2,2013.
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Penny Pritzker was sworn in as secretary on June 26,2013.
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Penny Pritzker supported the TPP as a way to provide market access to US businesses and as a way for the US to set the standards for trade.
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Penny Pritzker named a Digital Economy Board of Advisors, which included tech industry CEOs and academics, to advise on policy.
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Penny Pritzker expanded the IP attache program, which helps the tech industry protect their intellectual property abroad.
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On September 14,2023, Penny Pritzker was appointed by President Biden as the US Special Representative for Ukraine's Economic Recovery.
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Penny Pritzker was a member of the Chicago Board of Education and is past chair of the Chicago Public Education Fund.
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Penny Pritzker was advisory board chair of Skills for America's Future, a policy initiative of the Aspen Institute.
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Penny Pritzker is a former chair of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago.
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In 2002, Penny Pritzker was elected to a six-year term on the 30-person Harvard Board of Overseers.
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Penny Pritzker donated $100 million to Harvard in 2021 for the construction of a new economics department building.
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Penny Pritzker became the first woman to serve in the Corporation's top role, that of the senior fellow, in 2022.
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In February 2018, Pritzker was elected to succeed Harvey V Fineberg as chairperson of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, taking effect May 2018.
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In March 2020, Pritzker set up the Illinois COVID-19 Response Fund, to assist non-profit organizations during the COVID-19 pandemic, after receiving a call from her brother, Illinois Governor J B Pritzker.
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Penny Pritzker is married to ophthalmologist Bryan Traubert, with whom she has two children.