Represents family whose wealth is estimated by Forbes at $2.6 billion.
Post: Chief executive of Incapital, a Chicago-based investment bank
Age: 43
Residence: Wilmette
Resume: Family patriarch J. Joe Ricketts became an online-stock-trading leader by founding the Ameritrade discount brokerage in Omaha. The bid’s point person is son Tom Ricketts, who moved to Chicago in 1983 to attend college and lives in the suburbs. Two siblings, Laura Ricketts and Todd Ricketts, live in the Chicago area. The fourth, Pete Ricketts, lives in Omaha and ran for the U.S. Senate in 2006.
Business style: Tom Ricketts wanted to make it on his own and never worked at Ameritrade, now TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. A market maker at the Chicago Board Options Exchange and finance executive before starting investment bank Incapital LLC.
Cubs connection: Tom Ricketts grew up watching the team on WGN. Once lived in an apartment above a bar across the street from Wrigley Field. Met his wife in the bleachers at a Cubs game.
Personal: Undergraduate and MBA degrees from the University of Chicago. Married, with five children.
Quote: “There are a lot of people in this world that would say Tom Ricketts is their best friend,” said Curt Conklin, a college roommate who has worked at Ameritrade and Incapital. “If you wanted to go have a beer, Tom was there.” tribune
