Obama's executive sounding board

By Roger O. Crockett

updated 6:50 p.m. ET May 20, 2008

On Feb. 10, 2007, Senator Barack Obama launched his bid for the White House in Springfield, setting himself on a course that has become one for the history books. But Obama might not have made it even to the Old State Capitol Building that frigid day if not for a private meeting he had with friends and advisers in late 2002 as he was mulling a run for the U.S. Senate. In a South Side high-rise overlooking the lake, the junior state senator vetted his lofty political ambitions with a group of Chicago's African American business elite that included Frank M. Clark Jr., Valerie B. Jarrett, Quintin E. Primo III, James Reynolds Jr., and John W. Rogers Jr.

Truth be told, his executive sounding board was present chiefly to talk Obama out of entering the contest. The Chicago Democrat had already lost a race for the U.S. House of Representatives, his funds were low, and his public stature even lower. Another loss so early in his political career would be disastrous. But over bacon and eggs in Jarrett's condo in Kenwood, the group debated the pros and cons. In the end, they agreed with their ambitious friend: Obama should run, and they would all pitch in. Jarrett recalls Obama saying, "Part of what I am expecting you to do is broaden my reach far beyond the African American community."

They have done their part. Though much of Obama's success must be attributed to his considerable personal skills and appeal, no small amount of credit goes to a powerful troupe of black business leaders in Chicago. They have been Obama's key source of fund-raising—employees at Exelon's ComEd, where Clark is chief executive, have already contributed more than $180,000. And this group has been his link to moneyed Chicagoans, such as Penny S. Pritzker and James S. Crown. But Obama is not their only cause. These black executives have a span of influence that spreads beyond Presidential politics to impoverished school kids aspiring to enter the nation's prestigious corporations.

You might call these chief executives the Fab Five. Besides Clark, there's Jarrett of real estate management firm Habitat; Primo of Capri Capital Partners, a commercial real estate developer; Reynolds of Loop Capital Markets, an investment bank; and Rogers of mutual fund outfit Ariel Capital Management. Though each has his or her hands full running a business, they always make time to help each other and the larger black community. Their spirit of mutual support reflects a mix of Midwestern values and the African concept of Ujamaa, a Swahili word for "extended family" that embodies the value of sharing work and wealth through business relationships.

Chicago's altruistic black executives extend far beyond this quintet, of course. Little happens inside Chicago's black business community without the involvement of such others as Linda Johnson Rice, chief executive of Johnson Publishing, whose flagship is Ebony magazine; Obama buddy Martin H. Nesbitt, president of Parking Spot and chairman of the Chicago Housing Authority; Charles A. Tribbett III, managing director of executive search firm Russell Reynolds Associates; Anthony K. Anderson, Midwest managing partner of Ernst & Young; Samuel C. Scott III, CEO of Corn Products International; and Cheryle R. Jackson, CEO of the Chicago Urban League.

These execs have worked largely incognito to form the world's largest organized conference of black directors of publicly traded companies. They're also setting precedents with megaprojects in real estate. They're sponsoring schools and mentorship programs. They're behind the first minority-owned banks to manage major bond offerings by corporations. And they're creating the country's biggest funds dedicated to community investment. "I don't think anybody can just sit in a room and start a business or launch a major project on their own," says Rice. "You need people you can reach out to and share information with. We have no problem helping each other out."

Losing Ground
They have miles to go, however, before they can rest. In many categories, Chicago's blacks lag African Americans of other big metropolitan areas. Along Michigan Avenue's roughly 2.5 miles of prime real estate from Roosevelt Road to Oak Street, only one building is black-owned. Of Chicago's top 50 companies, only one has a black chief executive (Corn Products' Scott) vs. four in greater New York. With an African American population twice as big as Chicago's 1.1 million, New York has almost three times more black businesses—98,076 to Chicago's 39,424. And 94% of Chicago's black-owned businesses are mom-and-pop shops with no more than one employee.

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Outside the business sphere, Chicago often ranks poorly, too. The percentage of black males in Chicago Public Schools who go on to graduate from college is a dismal 3%. Crime, imprisonment, and unemployment among blacks are on the rise here, while they're declining in other big cities. Chicago is no longer even the Second City, laments Rogers. "I want to challenge Chicago to get us back where we were, and not let the business power structure in this city think that everything is O.K."

Today's black leaders are building on the work of their predecessors — at Johnson Publishing, hair-care marketer Johnson Products, Independence Bank, Harold's Chicken Shack, and Leon's Bar-B-Q. "The thing that has kept us together over the years is the commonality of our visions for what we want the city to be like, and what we want to see the minority business community be like," says Reynolds, a 53-year-old native of Chicago's tough Englewood neighborhood who co-founded Loop Capital in 1997 after 21 years at such brokerages as Smith Barney and Merrill Lynch. "We always know that when we talk, we are in the same place."

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