Kurt Summers Jr. (MBA 2005) denies he has his sights set on anything beyond another term as Chicago city treasurer, a job he’s held since 2014, but in a long profile, Crain’s Chicago Business speculates about the 37-year-old South Side native’s ambitions. Several prominent Chicago politicos mention Summers as a potential 2019 challenger to current mayor Rahm Emanuel or a contender for the Illinois governorship.

Summers, who aspired from a young age to be an investment banker and worked at Goldman Sachs before joining the public sector, has used his position as city treasurer to address some of the city’s most pressing issues, Crain’s writes. “Ask him about Chicago's pernicious problem with gun violence, and he will tell you the city doesn't have a crime problem. ‘We have an economic problem.’”

Summers’s mantra is “How do you help people today?” It is written in shorthand—“HDYHPT?”—on every dry-erase board in his office. “People can widely speculate all they want," Summers tells Crain’s about the possibility of a mayoral or gubernatorial run. "Meanwhile I will come in every day, bring my lunchbox and get to work."

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