Meet Penny Pritzker, Barack Obama’s campaign finance chairman and rumored to be his top choice for Secretary of Commerce. Read her biography and see photos and a video about her below.
Penny Pritzker
Billionaire money maven Penny Pritzker was the national finance chairman for Obama’s presidential campaign. Under her care, his campaign raised record breaking amounts of money believed to be as much as $640 million. Now ’sources’ are reporting that she is his choice to be his Commerce Secretary.
Pritzker is denying the rumors saying that she feels she can best serve the administration by helping to create jobs. As an heiress to the Hyatt Hotel fortune she is a billionaire which is at odds with Obama’s theory that jobs and wealth are created from the bottom up, not from the top down. Pritzker is in the top 150 wealthiest people in America.
Her appointment to this position would not be without controversy considering her history as the mother of subprime lending practices.
Penny Pritzker Biography
Penny Sue Pritzker was born in 1959 in Chicago, Illinois. She is 49-years-old. She was born into the Pritzker family which is one of America’s wealthiest families as heirs to the Hyatt Hotel empire. Her brother is Jay Robert “J.B.” Pritzker.
Her grandfather was Abram Nicholas Pritzker (1896 - 1986), the founder of the Hyatt Hotel chain. The hotel chain was taken over by and built into a major hotel chain by his son and Penny’s uncle was Jay Pritzker (1922 - 1999). Her parents are Mr. and Mrs. Donald Pritzker. Penny Pritzker attended Castilleja School until her graduation in 1977. She earned her BA in economics from Harvard University in 1981 and her JD and MBA from Standford University in 1984.
She grew up in a politically active home that supported democratic candidates over the years. Her mother helped Nancy Pelosi get elected. They supported Bill Clinton in his presidential campaign and John Kerry when he ran for President.
She is one of three cousins who run the Hyatt empire throughout the world. Pritzker founded and is the chairman of Classic Residence by Hyatt, a chain of luxury senior living communities. She runs four companies and serves on the boards of numerous charities. She served as Barack Obama’s National Finance Chair. She estimated to be the 135th richest person in the United States according to Forbes 400 list of ‘America’s Wealthiest. She’s estimated to have a net worth of $2.8 billion.
Pritzker is married to Dr. Bryan Traubert, an ophthalmologist. Pritzker and her husband live in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago. They have been close friends with the Obamas since the 1990s when their children were on coached in summer basketball by Michelle Obama’s brother, Craig Robinson. They have a teenage son and daughter.
Penny Pritzker - Photos
Rush Limbaugh On Penny Pritzker - Video
November 20th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Looks like Pritzker just withdrew:
http://rightsoup.com/penny-pritzker-withdraws-from-secretary-of-commerce-vetting-process-over-past-dealings/
November 20th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Wasn’t the Pritzker family also the past owners of Conwood, the smokeless tobacco concern before its sale to Reynolds?
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