Mesirow Financial’s New Strategy: Make Money While You Change the World

Steven Mesirow, grandson of Norman Mesirow, founder of the eponymous Chicago-based financial firm, is honoring the values he inherited from his grandfather in an innovative way. Mesirow says his grandfather espoused three key management principles: Be good to your employees; Treat your customers how you would like to be treated; Give back to your community. […]

Turning Loss From Early-Onset Alzheimer’s Into Action

With a young daughter, a busy career involving substantial travel and a working husband, Jan Tratnik didn’t believe that she had the bandwidth to also become the primary caretaker of her mother who developed early-onset Alzheimer’s. Nor did Tratnik anticipate that her vibrant, independent mother living in another state with an active social life would […]

Glenview’s Patron Saint: Sister Paulanne of OLPH

If every child had a Sister Paulanne in his or her life, we would have a vastly better world. Every child would have someone to provide help and stability to his or her family when it’s most needed. And every child would learn that giving to the less fortunate is an important part of life. […]

Hecky's Barbecue Owner Honors Family By Giving Back

Restaurateur and social entrepreneur Hecky Powell proudly honors and reflects the values of his great-grandfather — a slave who learned hard work in cotton fields, escaped using the Underground Railroad, raised a large family and eventually settled in Evanston as the town’s first black barber. Powell owns Hecky’s Barbecue in Evanston, which was voted Best […]

Have Fun While Giving Back at Winterfest in Lake Geneva

Winterfest, home to the U.S. National Snow Sculpting Competion, brings teams from across the country to compete in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Each team of three sculptors has three days to create works of art out of 9-foot-tall columns of snow. Held lakeside in Downtown Lake Geneva, this event is the only national competition of its […]