Chicago loves talking trash. It's the City of Big Shoulders, full of grit and brash. It's called the Windy City, not so much for the wind, which whips through skyscrapers like wind tunnels, but for boastful politicians and the smack that flies around there. Still, the "Midwest nice" friendliness and down-to-earth vibe make travelers want to return, drawing more than 50 million visitors annually.
And the Chicago-vibe has prompted many Ohio Wesleyan alumni make Chicago their home—and build careers that show off their own big shoulders.
Here's a look at some of their stories in OWU Magazine's latest installment in our series of "OWU's Favorite Cities."
"Chicago really is one of the most beautiful cities in the world," says Mike McCluggage '69. And it was Chicago's energy that drew him there. "There aren't many big cities that have the level of energy that you see in Chicago," McCluggage says. "That's important to me."
For over 50 years, McCluggage has called the city home, making a name for himself in antitrust litigation, Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) cases, and class action proceedings.
His significant cases include an antitrust case brought against commercial insurers and brokerage companies by then-New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and the Body Shop Antitrust Litigation, a series of cases in six states (McCluggage chaired the defense), where body shops claimed over 30 insurers violated antitrust laws by conspiring to suppress shop charges for the labor and parts.
Early in his career, one of McCluggage's most poignant cases involved appealing—and prevailing to overturn—a death penalty conviction for Stanley Boclair in a case that went to the Supreme Court of Illinois. "When you take on a death penalty case, it's a little different from a fight over dollars," he says. After reading 500 death penalty opinions, he says one thing became apparent. "The death penalty is not an appropriate sentence in general. There are just too many uncertainties."
A music buff, McCluggage enjoys Chicago's "inexhaustible cultural resources," including a wide range of historic, modern, and intimate music venues.
Ran Wei '01 combines an economic and finance knowledge for her clients with a love for life in Chicago.
"For me, Chicago has so much to offer, from culture to nature to the food scene," Wei says. "I love going to the symphony. I go to the opera once or twice a year, and I'm a member of the art museum."
Born and raised in Beijing, China, Wei came to the U.S. by herself at age 15 to go to high school in Ithaca, New York. After graduating high school, she was drawn to OWU's strong program for international students. She triple-majored in economics, math, and computer science before getting a Ph.D. in applied economics at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton Business School.
As an executive vice president at global economic firm Compass Lexecon, Wei and her team provide support for expert testimony in complex litigation cases. "When you see TV shows about trials, we're the economic and finance experts that testify on behalf of our clients," she says.
She specializes in financial economics, corporate finance, corporate governance, risk management, accounting, and valuation in the context of litigation and has evaluated liability and estimated damages in complex securities, mutual fund, private equity, and hedge fund matters for many Fortune 500 companies.
Like Wei, Rory McHale '09 began his journey to OWU and Chicago from overseas. Born in Dublin, Ireland, he immigrated to Chicago with his family when he was three. "My parents made a new start for our family, which is really the foundation of everything that has happened in my life since," McHale says.
He calls his time at OWU a "fantastic incubator" for what became a career in law and social justice. At much larger schools, there's the possibility of getting lost in the crowd or getting pigeonholed, says McHale, who served as president of Wesleyan Council on Student Affairs (WCSA) and had a column in The Transcript.
"OWU is small enough where you can be involved in a lot of different things and explore being a leader in those fields," he says, "and big enough to continue making friends all through the four years."
McHale took skills he learned from the late Politics and Government Professor Sean Kay and Philosophy Professor Erin Flynn to channel his "yearning for justice" into tangible policies. "Sometimes it's not the subject matter you're taking, it's the person who's teaching it to you," he says.
He spent the early part of his career working in San Diego at the U.S.-Mexico border as one of the nation's youngest federal public defenders, representing mostly immigrants charged with border-related crimes.
McHale returned to Chicago to work in the city's Office of Inspector General (OIG) as the chief lawyer in that department responsible for investigating misconduct, corruption, and abuse. "I led some of the largest investigations of the office," including multimillion-dollar contractor fraud, corruption within city government, and police misconduct.
"Some people get this misperception of Chicago as full of corruption and bad things," McHale says. "What I found working at the OIG is that Chicago is full of incredible public servants, a lot of people who go to work every single day and are trying to either do the right thing or get the job done in the right way."
Now, as the director of legislative and external affairs at the Cook County Public Defender, McHale advocates for the public defender's office and its clients when the state legislature is in session. That means taking a three-hour Amtrak train ride from Chicago to Springfield throughout the spring to advocate for adults and children who have been charged with felonies and misdemeanors and help parents who are involved in family-separation proceedings. "We're trying to pass laws that'll help out those individuals and make a more just Illinois," McHale says. "I love feeling like we're making a difference."
For some, like Ahmed Hamed '20, OWU opened the door to Chicago with an internship with Ernst and Young, which gave him four location options: Chicago, New York, San Francisco and Miami.
"Chicago sounded like the best fit for me," Hamed says. "There's a lot happening here, but it's still a Midwestern city that has a more relaxed, down-to-earth vibe."
Hamed is now a financial analyst with the investment management firm CFI Partners, where he works with institutional investors like pensions, university endowments, and family offices looking to diversify via leveraged credit market.
A three-time all-conference cross country runner at OWU, Hamed now proudly displays a Bob the Bishop mascot on his desk at work. "He keeps me company," Hamed says.
Chicago's 18-mile lakefront trail gives Hamed a scenic vista to continue his running, which has grown to include marathon finishes in Chicago, Boston, New York, and Berlin. "Chicago's lakefront is very long, accessible, and super cool," he says. "I like to go out early mornings when there's not a ton of people. It's kind of meditative. You're just enjoying the beautiful scenery with Lake Michigan, one of the largest freshwater lakes in the world, and the city skyline. It's just incredible."
Near the south portion of the trail, in the heart of Hyde Park, sits one of the world's premier universities, where David Kovar '95, serves as a professor of molecular genetics and cell biology.
In the Kovar Lab at the University of Chicago, he uses cell biological approaches to study the internal cytoskeleton of cells, doing research on how cells normally carry out fundamental process like division and motility to better understand when something goes wrong with mutations that are linked to cancer, deafness, and other health issues.
"When we talk about human health, we're really talking about the activity of cells," he says. His work begins by inserting fluorescent tags on protein components of the actin cytoskeleton that he watches via time-lapse live cell imaging. That's coupled with gene editing, putting mutations in the different proteins to gauge the impact on the cytoskeleton's ability to facilitate division and motility, as well as using biochemistry methods to reconstitute the cytoskeleton with proteins isolated from cells.
Originally from Greeley, Colorado, Kovar came to the University of Chicago after working at Yale. He and his wife wanted to find a place between the Rocky Mountains and her home state of Connecticut. Both grew up in small towns and took jobs in Chicago as a halfway point. Twenty years later, they are still there.
"We love the South Side of Chicago," Kovar says. "You get all the advantages of being in this big city, but the neighborhood itself has kind of a small-town feel."
Chicago is all about connections—railway connections, political connections, and for Noel Abbott '92, soccer connections.
Abbott moved to Chicago after his wife was hired to design jewelry and accessories for Claire's. While Abbott, a forward on OWU's soccer team, was coaching youth soccer in a northern Chicago suburb, one of the dads connected him to an opening at his firm, Epstein Architecture, Engineering and Construction. Abbott eventually became the vice president and director of business development and marketing.
"I had an opportunity to help the firm win a number of assignments that have really helped shape Chicago," he says. Those projects included the western expansion of McCormick Place Convention Center and helping orchestrate the building of two new large runways at Chicago O'Hare International Airport.
Abbott credits the critical thinking skills he learned in college to help him win design commissions. "My research mind and critical thinking mind was really developed at Ohio Wesleyan," he says.
In 2023, he moved to RATIO, where he is the associate principal and client development leader. Recent projects include an outdoor concert venue called River Edge in Aurora, Illinois.
"I love the design world," Abbot says. "I think what architects and interior designers do is amazing. We focus on a lot of communal, cultural, and civic work."
Chicagoans also love their sports, with teams in every major sports league, including "Da Bears," and storied venues like Wrigley Field and Soldier Field.
On the city's west side, the United Center is home to the largest-capacity arena in the NBA. There, you'll find bronzed statues of Bulls legend Michael Jordan and Chicago Blackhawks stars Stan Mikita and Bobby Hull. And you'll find Curtis Baddeley '91, senior director of rental suites, who has worked there for more than 30 years.
"I've been fortunate enough to be a part of seven championships, four Bulls championships and three Blackhawks championships," he says.
Baddeley handles the marketing, selling, and administrating of suite rentals and their amenities for more than 220 events annually at United Center, from Bulls and Blackhawk games to A-list concerts.
"It's about creating memories and experiences for guests." He says, from tickets to food, it's like party planning and hotel management wrapped together. "It's very rewarding, because you're creating memories for folks," Baddeley says.
After graduating from OWU, Baddeley, a journalism major and Cubs fan, got into a car with his best friend, a White Sox fan, and drove 14,663 miles to every Major League Baseball ballpark in the country. He then returned to his hometown of Chicago to start his career—living his dream he says—as a sports producer at WGN Radio. "I love Chicago," he says.
He's especially excited about the area around the United Center, energized by the 10-year 1901 Project, which is adding restaurants, hotels, and a small theater. "When I first started working there, it was not the safest part of town, and people didn't visit the West Side except for games. Now, many full- and part-time employees who work here live within six blocks of the United Center."
Another OWU journalism major who was attracted to the third biggest media market in the country is Emmyaward- winning journalist Sarah Schulte '85.
Growing up in the northern suburb of Highland Park, Schulte remembers, as an 11-year-old, going into the city to collect political buttons and visiting the office of soon-to-be Chicago mayor, Jane Byrne. "Politics was just in my DNA," Schulte says.
She came to OWU because she wanted a smaller liberal arts school where she could major in journalism and minor in political science. She served on WCSA and the Panhellenic Council and worked at OWU radio and TV stations. She also spent a semester in Washington, interning at CNN.
After college, Schulte covered the White House and congressional hearings on Capitol Hill, including the Iran-Contra hearings. She's also covered news and politics in Las Vegas, Nashville, and Philadelphia, where Philadelphia Magazine named her Reporter of the Year in 1997, before returning to Chicago to join Chicago's ABC 7 News in 1998.
"I love Chicago," she says. "I think it's the greatest city in this country."
Schulte's many Emmys include an award for her Clinton-Gore presidential campaign coverage and, most recently, for her federal trial coverage of exalderman Ed Burke, one of the most powerful people on Chicago's City Council, who infamously said on secret recordings: "So did we land the big tuna?"
"Chicago politics is tough," Schulte says.
Chicago loves its politics. In Chicago, it's all about connections, with 50 wards, each with its own alderman, that comprise the city council.
Knowing how to work the political circuit is something Kate LeFurgy '08 knows well. "I always knew I wanted to be involved in politics," says LeFurgy, who, as a preschooler, sent finger paintings to President George H.W. Bush.
After graduating from OWU, LeFurgy came to Chicago in 2010 to get a master's in public policy at the University of Chicago. She decided to stay, working as the Office of the City Clerk´s chief communications officer. Later, she became the director of communications for Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who served during the Covid-19 pandemic—something LeFurgy called the most challenging and rewarding time of her career, as she directed communications strategy and issues management for the day-to-day operations of the mayor's office and more than 40 city departments.
"Chicago is the Olympics of politics," LeFurgy says. "A lot of people play hardball. It's very rough and tumble. You have to have very thick skin. You can't take anything personally. Everyone at the end of the day is all fighting for the Chicago and the residents, because we love the city so deeply."
LeFurgy now serves as the head of communications and marketing at The Vistria Group, a private investment firm where she advises on strategic communications and marketing for the firm and its portfolio companies. "One thing that's really important to us is having all the unique perspectives at the table," she says. "We're incredibly diverse for a financial firm."
That's also one of the things LeFurgy likes best about Chicago—its diversity.
And its summers.
"Chicago in the summer is unlike any place in the world," LeFurgy says. "Because we've been indoors for eight months, everyone loves to celebrate. We have the best street festivals in all 77 community areas."
Like LeFurgy, Christy George '07, is also politically well-connected. She's worked for three Chicago mayors, starting in 2009 with Richard M. Daley, and later with Rahm Emanuel and Lori Lightfoot.
After coming to Chicago to work in a boutique law firm on plaintiff-side litigation, George became the City of Chicago's assistant corporation counsel working with a special team of police officers focused on criminal gang and drug activity.
"I had the opportunity to make a lot of relationships," she says. That included fostering collaboration with aldermen and police commanders who were directly addressing problems within their district. "I also got to understand how certain city departments play a role in ensuring community safety," she says. "It was the start of something that I didn't realize I wanted to do."
That "something" became a quick rise in responsibility and public service, as she eventually became Chicago's deputy budget director before progressing to Illinois state government and to the post of first assistant deputy governor, budget and economy, under Gov. JB Pritzker, calling him "one of the best bosses I've ever had."
Last year, she took on the massive challenge of overseeing a national political convention as executive director of the Chicago 2024 Host Committee for the Democratic National Convention. "Fun fact," George says with a laugh. "I had never been to a political convention before we hosted the one here in Chicago."
Running the DNC was "a challenge of a lifetime, an experience of a lifetime," she says, adding, "just a cool moment to feel like we had accomplished something so big and did it together and did it for our city."
She says, "It was incredible to see Chicago's corporate community, civic and philanthropic community, and labor coming together. Everybody was essentially at the table saying, 'We've got to make sure this goes well, because this is our city. We love our city, and everybody needs to see how amazing our city is.'"
Today, she is continuing to sell Chicago and Illinois as the president and CEO of Intersect Illinois, an economic development organization focused on bringing jobs and investment to the state. It's helping win business for the state and helping direct investments to impoverished areas.
In Chicago, Da Bishops are making it great.
Written by Dawn Reiss, a Chicago journalist who has written extensively about the city. She is a former president of the Chicago Headline Club, the largest Society of Professional Journalists chapter in the country.
Brian McConkey '88 is one of Chicago's leading photographers, known for captivating headshots. For more than 30 years, he's run a photography business out of his Fulton Market studio.
He says, "It's all about capturing someone's expression: their eyes, what they're thinking, if they're thinking a question, or if they're thinking more of a statement. And posture is huge."
His reputation has netted him photo shoots with celebrities like Morgan Freeman, Tina Fey, Jason Sudeikis, James Denton, Cecily Strong, Nick Offerman, Rachel Dratch, Pat Healy, Ira Glass, and Joe Keery. It's also landed McConkey parts in movies like Public Enemies, after a casting director auditioned local photographers for a scene filmed in Chicago.
"I see life through a viewfinder," McConkey says. "And I think it's become an obsession."
When he's not behind the camera, he's usually near Lake Michigan. "I love the water. I love boats. I love sailing," he says. For sailing, he goes to Columbia Yacht Club at DuSable Harbor to compete on a 42-foot boat. "Everybody's got their job," he says. "It's fun as heck. You've got to deal with whatever wind comes your way, and the course is always different."