Penny Pritzker

Penny Sue Pritzker is an American billionaire. She is the granddaughter of Abram Nicholas Pritzker and the niece of Jay Pritzker. She is the Founder and CEO of Hyatt Classic Residences, luxury senior living complexes spread throughout the United States.

In 1981, she received a BA in Economics from Harvard University later earning a JD and MBA from Stanford University. She is ranked 135th on the 2007 Forbes list of richest Americans. She has sat on Harvard's Board of Overseers since 2002. She has also developed a Chicago skyscraper, been president of commercial and residential real estate companies, and served as chairperson for a credit-reporting company. She is now the national finance chairperson of Barack Obama's presidential campaign.

Obama starts his White House proposal with roughly nothing in the bank. His chief rival, Hillary Clinton, has more than a $9mil advantage for use in her presidential mission. Pritzker has an extensive past as a contributor and even more significant for a fund-raiser. Pritzker was also on the finance team for Obama's 2004 Senate run.

Pritzker will have to raise millions in the next few weeks to keep Obama competitive with Clinton. Obama is a wonderful fund-raiser; however, Bill and Hilary have been doing it since 1991 and have direct access into wealthy Democratic pockets. Penny Pritzker also donated $2,000 for President Bush's re-election.

Obama ended last year with $516,553 on tap in his political action group, the Hopefund. Out of that amount, Obama paid for political expenses in January for the run up to his presidential bid, so he really has less at the starting gate. Obama is creating a new committee to take in cash for his campaign.

The first major fund-raiser for Obama's presidential campaign was on Feb. 11 in Chicago at the, of course, Hyatt Regency Chicago. He will need to raise at least $1mil from this one happening to stay in the race. Obama started his presidential fund-raising drive with a creditable ban on accepting money from fed lobbyists, political action committees, registered foreign agents and youths under the age of 16. A common swindle for wealthy donors is to get around federal philanthropic limits by writing checks in the names of their kids. Obama's conversion to a high standard comes with his White House run.

But, back to Penny. She is the largest donor that Obama has in this race. If she can raise the amount promised,