Bears CEO Kevin Warren added to state business development board

Chicago Bears President and CEO Kevin Warren is joining the board of a statewide economic development organization that works closely with Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration to help attract businesses to Illinois.

Warren’s appointment to the Intersect Illinois board comes as he is deepening his outreach to the state’s business community after the Bears’ proposal that the public help pay for a new domed stadium on a reimagined lakefront failed to advance during the state legislature’s spring session.

Warren joins the board along with GCM Grosvenor CEO and Chairman Michael Sacks and Spann Tech President and CEO Smita Shah, with all three appointments announced Friday by the Intersect Illinois board. The additions are among nearly a dozen in recent months as Intersect, a public-private economic development partnership, expands its board and revamps its membership to focus on top-level executives.

Despite the timing, Warren said Friday the new position doesn’t have any connection to the Bears’ drive for upwards of $2 billion in public money for its stadium proposal.

“I am not at all looking at this to have any impact on our stadium project that we’re working on,” Warren said in an interview with the Tribune. “My whole focus in accepting this invitation to join the board is the value that I am focused on bringing to the state of Illinois.”

Previously as commissioner of the Big Ten and now as president of the Bears, Warren said he has seen “a convergence of sports, business, finance, entertainment, people, culture that is occurring in our society.”

“My whole goal is to try to provide as much value, insight, relationship-building that I can to benefit the state of Illinois,” he said.

Warren said he hasn’t spoken with Pritzker about his appointment to the Intersect board and still looks forward to speaking with him about the team’s stadium proposal, which the governor’s office has called a “non-starter” in its current form.

Earlier this month, Warren reiterated the Bears’ stadium plans to a crowd of high-powered business leaders in a keynote address at the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce’s annual meeting.

“You cannot make progress only playing defense,” Warren said at the meeting.

Regardless of the lack of action from the General Assembly this spring after he urged swift action when the team unveiled its plans in April alongside Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, Warren said the project is “exactly where I thought we would be at this point in time.”

“This summer will be critically important; the fall is critically important,” he said. “And we’ll continually continue to meet and work with elected officials, our business leaders and continue to communicate … our goal in regards to how this (stadium plan) can be a very productive public-private partnership.”

The General Assembly is next scheduled to gather in Springfield in the fall for the veto session when legislation on the Bears’ stadium proposal may get introduced or voted on.

The Bears’ plan calls for the team to bring $2.3 billion in private financing to the table, including a $300 million stadium loan from the NFL, but the stadium itself is projected to cost $3.2 billion.

To fill in the gap, the team wants the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority to issue $900 million in new bonds to cover the remaining stadium cost. Additionally, the team wants ISFA to refinance about $430 million in outstanding debt for previous projects at Soldier Field and Guaranteed Rate Field, where the White Sox play.

The Bears also want the state agency to borrow about $160 million more to set up a liquidity fund to cover future shortfalls in the 2% city hotel tax that’s dedicated to repaying the bonds. When those revenues fall short, as they have in recent years, the difference currently gets taken out of the city’s share of state income tax revenue.

On top of the borrowing to pay for the stadium itself, the Bears are looking for an additional $1.5 billion in public money for infrastructure improvements to the lakefront to fully realize the team’s vision, including plans to demolish most of Soldier Field and create more lakefront green space.

The governor plays no official role in selecting board members for Intersect Illinois, which was created under former Gov. Bruce Rauner, Pritzker’s Republican predecessor. The responsibility for picking board members falls to the Intersect board itself.

Pritzker does, however, serve as an honorary chair and appoints the board chair.

In a statement Friday, a spokeswoman for Pritzker said that the chair of Intersect Illinois informed the governor’s office of the decision to add Warren, Sacks and Shah to the board and how the board operates was being restructured.

“Many qualified business leaders have been appointed to Intersect, but that appointment does not mean they get additional benefits from the state,” said Jordan Abudayyeh, a Pritzker spokeswoman. “The governor appreciates the efforts of the business leaders who are volunteering their time to serve their state.”

In September, Pritzker named John Atkinson, chairman of the Chicago office of insurance broker Marsh, as Intersect’s chair. Atkinson previously was chairman of the Illinois Board of Higher Education and the State Universities Retirement System.

Atkinson said in a news release Friday that the board expansion and restructuring is designed to build on recent momentum Illinois has had in attracting corporate expansions and relocations.

Recent successes included snack-maker Kellanova locating its headquarters in Chicago after spinning off from Kellogg, electric vehicle battery-maker Gotion choosing Manteno as the site for a new factory and automaker Rivian’s planned expansion in Normal.

“Key to building upon that momentum is enlisting our best and brightest business and civic leaders to help us lead this work, and adding Michael Sacks, Smita Shah and Kevin Warren to our board will provide invaluable leverage as we compete to bring new business and jobs to Illinois,” Atkinson said in a statement.

Sacks, in particular, is a political heavy-hitter, both in Chicago and nationally.

A close ally and adviser to former Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Sacks hosted a fundraiser for President Joe Biden at his home this spring and he’s board president of the local host committee for this summer’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

“Public-private partnerships such as Intersect Illinois play a vital role in advancing economic opportunity that impacts the entire state,” Sacks said in the release. “As a member of the Intersect Illinois board, I look forward to helping showcase our state and driving economic growth and jobs for Illinoisans.”

In addition to her role leading Chicago-based engineering and construction management firm Spann Tech, Shah serves on Biden’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. Shah is the daughter of Niranjan Shah, a founding partner of Globetrotters Engineering Corp. who in 2009 resigned as University of Illinois board chairman following an admissions scandal. He was a onetime major campaign contributor to disgraced former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Other recent additions to the board include Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce CEO Jack Lavin; Chicago State University President Z Scott; former World Business Chicago president and CEO Michael Fassnacht, now Clayco Chicagoland’s chief growth officer; and Illinois Manufacturers’ Association President and CEO Mark Denzler.