Penny Pritzker  Penny Sue Pritzker (born May 2, 1959) is an American billionaire businesswoman, entrepreneur, and civic leader. President Barack Obama nominated Pritzker as United States Secretary of Commerce. After being confirmed by a Senate vote of 97–1, she became the 38th person to hold that position. Pritzker spent her early career in business. She worked her way up through the Pritzker family business, eventually being appointed as one of three successors to her uncle, Jay Pritzker. She is the founder of PSP Capital Partners and Pritzker Realty Group and co-founder of Artemis Real Estate Partners. As of October 2015, "Forbes" estimated her net worth at $2.4 billion. In 2009, Forbes named Pritzker one of the 100 most powerful women in the world. Before entering government service, Pritzker had been involved in many Chicago organizations, including the Chicago Board of Education, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, and her own foundation, the Pritzker Traubert Family Foundation. Pritzker was an early supporter of Obama's presidential candidacy, having been a friend of the Obama family since their time in Chicago. Her brother, J. B. Pritzker, is the Governor of Illinois. Penny Pritzker was born in Chicago in 1959, the daughter of Sue (née Sandel) and Donald Pritzker. She is a member of the Pritzker family of Chicago, a wealthy and influential business family. Donald Pritzker was one of the co-founders of Hyatt Hotels. He moved the family to Atherton, California, where business for the Hyatt Hotels began to grow. Penny has two younger brothers, Tony ( 1961) and J. B. Pritzker ( 1965). Young Penny would accompany her father to the hotels and check the cleanliness of the ladies restrooms. In 1972, Don died suddenly of a heart attack when Penny was 13years old. Following Don's death, Sue began battling depression, requiring Penny to at times care for her mother and her younger brothers. At age 16, Penny wrote a letter to her grandfather, and head of the family business empire, A.N. Pritzker, in which she asked why he talked business with the men in the family and not with her. Finally realizing Penny's interest in business, A.N. provided her with a summer course in accounting. Penny attended Castilleja School until 1977. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in economics from Harvard College in 1981.