John Pritzker

Pritzker was born in Chicago, Illinois,[2] the son of Marian "Cindy" (née Friend) and Jay Pritzker.[3] Pritzker graduated with a B.A. from Menlo College.[1] His father diversified the Chicago-based family business, the Marmon Group - along with his brothers Robert Pritzker and Donald Pritzker - building it into a portfolio of over 60 diversified industrial corporations. He also created the Hyatt Hotel chain in 1957 and owned Braniff Airlines from 1983–1988.[1] The family has been divesting its assets: in 2006, the family sold Conwood, a smokeless tobacco company, for $3.5 billion to cigarette company Reynolds American Inc;[4] in 2007, the family sold control of the Marmon Group to Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway for $4.5 billion;[1] and in 2010, the family sold its majority stake in Transunion, the Chicago-based credit reporting company, for an undisclosed amount to Chicago-based private-equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners.[4]

In 1972, Pritzker started his career working in the family business, Hyatt Hotels, where in 1984, he rose to become Managing Director and Divisional Vice President.[5] In 1988, he left Hyatt to pursue his own entrepreneurial activities,[6] including Ticketmaster.[7] In 1996, he formed Mandara Spa,[8] a chain of 72 resort spas. In 2000, 40% of the company was sold to Shiseido Co.[9] In 2001, the remaining 60% was sold to Steiner Leisure Limited, a Nasdaq (STNR) listed company.[7][10] In 2005, Pritzker founded the private equity firm Geolo Capital with his Mandara business partner Tom Gottlieb;[6] Geolo Capital focused on investments in hospitality, entertainment, and health & wellness companies.[11] In 2009, Geolo Capital bought the iconic Carmel Valley Ranch from Blackstone. The resort was reimagined and opened in 2012. Soon after the resort's opening, Geolo Capital purchased a majority interest in the Joie de Vivre boutique hotel chain. In October 2011, Geolo Capital merged the 30 hotel Joie de Vivre chain with the 12 hotel Thompson Hotel Group[11] to form Commune Hotels & Resorts.[1][12] In 2012, Commune operated 46 hotels, which generated $450 million in revenues.[13] In January 2016, Commune Hotels merged with Destination Hotels to form Two Roads Hospitality. With that merger, the new company has over 97 hotels across six brands and annual revenues of over $2.3 billion.[14] In November 2018, Two Roads Hospitality closed on its sale to Hyatt Corporation for a reported price of $480 million.

Pritzker and his former wife Lisa Stone have three children.[1][15][16] Pritzker is chair of the John Pritzker Family Fund, which invests in mental health and healthcare, democracy and civic health, Jewish life and the arts. The fund is a major supporter of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC).

In March 2019, the foundation announced a $25 million grant to the India Basin Park Project, an ambitious environmental justice and open space initiative to build a new, accessible and contiguous waterfront park for San Francisco's Bayview community. The fund also supports a mental health speaker series in San Francisco in partnership with the Commonwealth Club, to advance a community conversation about mental health and exploring promising treatments and innovations across the field.

Pritzker serves on the Executive Council of UCSF Health and the boards of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy and the Bernard Osher Foundation. He is a member of the Emeritus Board of Tipping Point Community and is a past president of the San Francisco Jewish Community Federation.