Managing Partner, The Pritzker Group
Founder, New World Ventures
Mr. Pritzker is Managing Partner and co-founder of The Pritzker Group, a private investment firm, and founder of New World Ventures, an early-stage information technology investors. A founding board member of the Illinois Venture Capital Association, a founding director of the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center, and founder of the public/private Illinois Innovation Accelerator Fund, Mr. Pritzker has been a leading proponent of a stronger technology sector focus in the Midwest.
Founded by Mr. Pritzker in 1996, New World Ventures invests in early stage information technology companies, principally focused on enterprise software, IT infrastructure and IT managed services. The firm is among Chicago's leading VC investors and has been among the earliest lead investors in over 40 companies, including Illinois-based TicketsNow.com, Sportvision, UnivaUD, Hyperquest, and Advantage Optics.
Mr. Pritzker is also co-founder and Managing Partner of The Pritzker Group, a private investment firm acquiring late stage companies in a wide range of business sectors including industrial, business services, media, and technology. Acquisitions have included aircraft safety product manufacturer Amsafe, investment casting manufacturer Signicast and construction materials distributor Carter-Waters.
In 2008, the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce awarded Mr. Pritzker the Entrepreneur Champion Award for his efforts assisting business creation. Crain's Chicago Business honored him with the designation as a business leader in its "40 under 40," and "Who's Who of Chicago Business." The Chicago Sun-Times named him to its "Hot 100" most prominent members of Chicago's technology economy, and The City Club of Chicago awarded him Citizen of the Year. He received the Humanitarian Award from the Holocaust Memorial Foundation of Illinois for his philanthropic activities, and he was awarded the Spirit of Erikson Institute Award for his work fighting child poverty.
As President of the Pritzker Family Foundation, he founded the Children's Initiative which funds innovative research and programs serving children in poverty and the Pritzker Consortium on Early Childhood Development at the University of Chicago led by Nobel Prize winning economist James Heckman. Along with the Gates, Buffett, Harris and Kaiser foundations, the Children's Initiative is a principal backer of the First Five Years Fund, an organization committed to improving the lives of at-risk children by leveraging cost-effective investments in early learning. The Pritzker Family Foundation is also the principal funder of the Cambodian Tribunal Monitor, providing internet broadcasts of the 2008 trials of Pol Pot era acts of genocide. Mr. Pritzkeris a trustee and serves on the investment committee of Northwestern University and is a member of the Board of Governors of Northwestern University School of Law. He is a Trustee of the Field Museum of Natural History and a member of the Economic Club and the Commercial Club of Chicago. As Chairman of the Illinois Human Rights Commission, he was recognized for his outstanding achievement in reforming the Commission which is the state's chief civil rights adjudicatory agency for housing and employment discrimination. As Chairman of the Illinois Holocaust Museum campaign he has led the effort to build one of the world's leading Holocaust museums. The new museum opened in April 2009 with 13,000 in attendance and keynote addresses by Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel and former President Bill Clinton. Pritzker is also a member of the Chicago 2016 Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games.
Mr. Pritzker is an attorney and a member of the Illinois and Chicago Bar Associations. He graduated with an A.B. in political science from Duke University and earned his J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law. He lives in Chicago, Illinois with his wife and children.
