Todd Ricketts | |
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Finance Chair of the Republican National Committee | |
In office January 31, 2018 –January 31, 2022 | |
Preceded by | Steve Wynn |
Succeeded by | Duke Buchan |
Personal details | |
Born | September 23,1969 |
Political party | Republican |
Spouse | Sylvie Légère |
Relatives | Joe Ricketts (father) Pete Ricketts (brother) Laura Ricketts (sister) Thomas S. Ricketts (brother) |
Education | Loyola University,Chicago (BA) University of Chicago |
Todd M. Ricketts (born September 23,1969) is an American businessman and politician who is a co-owner of the Chicago Cubs,a member of the TD Ameritrade board of directors,and a former Republican National Committee Finance Chairman. [1] [2] [3] [4]
Todd Ricketts is the son of Marlene Margaret (née Volkmer) and TD Ameritrade founder and billionaire Joe Ricketts. [5] Ricketts grew up in Omaha,Nebraska. [6] Forbes' estimate of the Ricketts' family wealth ($1 billion),consolidated under J. Joseph Ricketts name,placed them at No. 371 on the Forbes 400 list. [7] Ricketts is also brother of Pete Ricketts,current U.S. Senator from,and former Governor of Nebraska.
Ricketts earned a bachelor of arts in economics at Loyola University Chicago in 1994 and later attended the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business. Ricketts left Booth before finishing his MBA requirements to work as a trader at a New York-based startup,Knight Securities. [8]
Ricketts worked for securities and investment banking firm Incapital and for the financial services firm Knight Securities. He also worked for TD Ameritrade in business development, [9] and he is on the board of directors of TD Ameritrade Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:AMTD). [1]
Ricketts is also on the board of directors of the Chicago Cubs. [10] In April 2007,Sam Zell announced his intention to acquire the Chicago-based Tribune Company. After acquiring the Tribune,Zell announced that he would sell the Cubs and related entities including Wrigley Field and a 25% share of SportsNet Chicago. [11] The Ricketts family bid was selected as the winning bid on January 22,2009. [12] The family bid included all four siblings (Peter,Tom,Laura,and Todd) and both parents. Forbes estimated that the ownership stake in the Chicago Cubs represents $642 million out of the total $900 million bid. [11] Ricketts has a World Series title to his credit,as the Cubs won the championship in 2016 defeating the Cleveland Indians four games to three.
Ricketts is an investor in Napolita (pizzeria) in Wilmette,Illinois,and was a co-owner of Higher Gear bike shops in Wilmette,Illinois and Highland Park,Illinois. Higher Gear closed in December 2017. Ricketts is a member of the board of directors of World Bicycle Relief. [13] [14]
Since 2013,Ricketts has been a member of the board of directors and CEO of a non-profit small government advocacy group called Ending Spending Inc. [15] [16] Ending Spending was founded by Joe Ricketts in 2010 to advocate against congressional earmarks. [17]
As of 2022,Ricketts is a co-founder (with Kristin Jackson) of the alternative search engine Freespoke,a service purporting to be "a search engine and news aggregator without suppression,cancellation of stories,or digital tracking of users." [18]
Ricketts was an influential fundraiser and donor during the 2016 US presidential election,supporting Wisconsin governor Scott Walker during the Republican Party primaries. [19] He was named co-chair of Walker's fundraising drive in May 2015. [20]
Ricketts manages the conservative political operations for the Republican wing of the Ricketts family. [9] After Walker bowed out of the race in September 2015, [21] the Ricketts family donated $5.5 million to Our Principles PAC,a super PAC opposing the candidacy of Donald Trump. [22] [23] Once Trump became the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party,Ricketts reversed his stance,throwing his support to Trump. [22] In May 2016,Ricketts was chosen as an at-large member of the Illinois delegation to the Republican National Convention. [24] During the tail end of the general election,Ricketts participated in fundraisers in Chicago for Trump's candidacy and helped to raise money for the pro-Trump super PACs 45 Committee and Future 45,raising over $66 million. [25] [19]
On November 24,2016,reports surfaced that President-elect Donald Trump would appoint Ricketts as Deputy Secretary of Commerce. [26] On November 30,2016,Trump officially announced the nomination of Ricketts as Deputy Secretary of Commerce. [2]
On April 19,2017,Ricketts withdrew his nomination from consideration citing the inability to divest his financial holdings to the satisfaction of the Office of Government Ethics. [3]
Nearly nine months later,on January 31,2018,Ricketts was named the finance chairman for the Republican National Committee. [4]
On July 9,2019 it was reported by the Chicago Tribune that for nearly a decade Ricketts has paid property taxes "based on the value of [a] much older and smaller house that he tore down to make way for [a] new one,providing him with a huge discount likely totaling tens of thousands of dollars over the years." [27] The Tribune article continued,"State law required Ricketts to notify the assessor that he had built a new home in 2010,but a spokesman for the assessor’s office said there’s no record that Ricketts ever did." [27] In 2013,according to the Tribune report,Ricketts' attorney filed a property tax appeal seeking a reduction based on the age and size of the house - and included in the paperwork a photo of the 100-year-old home that had been torn down years before. [27]
"Todd Ricketts should repay the property tax relief it now appears he was not entitled to. I am most concerned and frankly outraged by the apparent intentional misrepresentation," Cook County Board of Review commissioner Michael Cabonargi said in a statement. "By submitting a signed affidavit with outdated photos,it appears he sought to defraud the Board of Review. By not paying his fair share,Mr. Ricketts shifted his property taxes to other home owners." [28]
"When Mr. Ricketts purchased property in Wilmette more than 10 years ago,he filed all necessary paperwork to build a new home," Ricketts' spokesman Brian Baker said in a statement. "Later,he retained a real estate attorney to assist with issues regarding his real estate taxes and assumed everyone involved had the correct information. If a mistake was made,he will work in good faith to fix it."
On September 5,2019,the Tribune reported that the Cook County Board of Review had referred to the state’s attorney its investigation of Ricketts’property tax appeal on his designer Wilmette home,after concluding that Ricketts and his real estate lawyer made "misrepresentations" that lowered their tax bills by tens of thousands of dollars. The tax board did not specify whether it was seeking a criminal or civil review. [29]
Ricketts is vice chairman of The National WWII Museum in New Orleans,and is on the board of Opportunity Education Foundation. He is a Regent at Loyola University Chicago. He is also active with The Churchill Centre. [30]
On November 7,2010,Ricketts appeared on the reality television series Undercover Boss ,going incognito as an entry-level employee at Wrigley Field. His brother Tom was also considered for the part,but the Cubs chose Todd as Tom was considered too recognizable (though Todd was still recognized by an old roommate of his while parking cars and had to clue him in on the secret). [31] Ricketts grew out his beard and wore fake glasses,assuming his alias —unemployed roofer "Mark Dawson". [32] From August 30 to September 8,during a nine-game Cubs' homestand,Ricketts worked a number of jobs at the ballpark,selling hot dogs,operating the scoreboard,picking up trash,cleaning toilets,and raising the Cubs Win flag after the Cubs’7-6 win over the Mets on September 4. He was fired from his maintenance job during the episode. [31]
Ricketts is married to French-Canadian Sylvie Légère. [10] [33] His siblings are former Nebraska Governor and current Nebraska Junior US Senator Pete Ricketts,Lambda Legal board member Laura Ricketts,and Incapital CEO Thomas S. Ricketts. [34]
The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field,which is located on Chicago's North Side. The Cubs are one of two major league teams based in Chicago;the other,the Chicago White Sox,is a member of the American League (AL) Central division. The Cubs,first known as the White Stockings,were a founding member of the NL in 1876,becoming the Chicago Cubs in 1903.
Wrigley Field is a stadium on the North Side of Chicago,Illinois. It is the ballpark of Major League Baseball's Chicago Cubs,one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charles Weeghman's Chicago Whales of the Federal League,which folded after the 1915 baseball season. The Cubs played their first home game at the park on April 20,1916,defeating the Cincinnati Reds 7–6 in 11 innings. Chewing gum magnate William Wrigley Jr. of the Wrigley Company acquired the Cubs in 1921. It was named Cubs Park from 1920 to 1926,before being renamed Wrigley Field in 1927. The stadium currently seats 41,649 people and is the second stadium to be named Wrigley Field,as a Los Angeles ballpark with the same name opened in 1925.
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Thomas M. Tunney is an American politician and entrepreneur from Chicago,Illinois. Since 2003,he has served as an alderman on the Chicago City Council. He represents the prominent 44th Ward of the city,which includes major tourist destinations,Northalsted and Wrigleyville neighborhoods. He was appointed vice mayor in 2019.
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The 2006 United States Senate election in Nebraska was held November 7,2006. Incumbent Democrat Ben Nelson won re-election to a second term,defeating Republican Pete Ricketts with 63.9% of the vote to Ricketts' 36.1%. Ricketts would later successfully run for Governor of Nebraska in 2014 and 2018 after and subsequently be appointed in January 2023 to Nebraska's other senate seat by Governor Jim Pillen,Ricketts' immediate successor.
John Peter Ricketts is an American businessman and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Nebraska since 2023. A member of the Republican Party,he served as the 40th governor of Nebraska from 2015 to 2023.
Charles Henry Weeghman was a German American restaurant entrepreneur and sports executive. Beginning in 1901,he began opening quick-service lunch counters throughout downtown Chicago. After failing to acquire the St. Louis Cardinals baseball club in 1911,he became one of the founders of the upstart Federal League in 1913 as the owner of the Chicago Whales. In 1914,he built the baseball stadium that would later be known as Wrigley Field.
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Laura Marie Ricketts is an American political activist and former attorney who is co-owner of the Chicago Cubs. Ricketts is also a board member of Lambda Legal and the Housing Opportunities for Women organization. Ricketts' ownership stake in the Cubs makes her the first openly gay owner of a major-league sports franchise.
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Back in February, Trump sent out a tweet that read, 'I hear the Rickets [sic] family, who own the Chicago Cubs, are secretly spending $'s against me. They better be careful, they have a lot to hide!'