Michael Fassnacht is resigning as president and CEO of World Business Chicago, where he directed efforts to promote the regional economy through the pandemic.
The veteran advertising executive presided over four years of growth at the organization, doubling its workforce to 50 and increasing corporate support to supplement government funding.
He took over WBC in 2020 with the backing of former Mayor Lori Lightfoot after serving as the city’s chief marketing officer.
Fassnacht said his decision is personal and that Mayor Brandon Johnson isn’t pushing him out to install someone else. Johnson succeeded Lightfoot as chair of the WBC board.
“I don’t know yet what I’ll be doing next, but I plan to stay in Chicago,” said Fassnacht, 56. “I have no rush” to decide.
Fassnacht said he will stay on to ensure a smooth transition to a successor.
Hiring decisions are made by the WBC’s board of more than 100 members. The public-private agency said it will swiftly begin a search and hopes to have a replacement in February. Fassnacht said he will remain active with WBC as a board member.
Fassnacht ran the advertising agency FCB Chicago before joining the Lightfoot administration.
He thanked Lightfoot, Johnson and WBC Vice Chair Mellody Hobson for their “unwavering support and trust.” According to the organization’s last publicly available tax filing, Fassnacht earned nearly $449,000 in 2021.
In a statement, Johnson praised the contributions of Fassnacht and Hobson, co-CEO and president of Ariel Investments. Hobson is stepping down as vice chair but will stay on the WBC board.
Under Fassnacht, the WBC reorganized to support job growth across the region, not just in Chicago, and became a clearinghouse for local economic data.
He promoted companies’ decisions to expand or relocate in the area, countering narratives that Chicago is declining because of higher crime rates and taxes. The marketing turned aggressive and a little cheeky as the region was dealing with the corporate exits of Citadel, Boeing and Caterpillar.
After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade in 2022, Fassnacht sent a letter to 300 CEOs urging them to move their headquarters to Chicago to safeguard employees’ abortion rights.
To promote Chicago’s global image, the WBC started a “Chicago Not in Chicago” tourism campaign that showed how the city’s influence shows up in other metropolises. But the campaign was widely panned for showing scenes of other locales, New York for example, and not sites to visit in Chicago.
Fassnacht told the Sun-Times the region still needs to think of creative ways to spread its message.
“We want to market Chicago as one of the 20 to 25 super-regions in the world, just like Singapore. That’s really the market where we are competing,” he said.
Since 2021, 528 businesses have relocated or expanded in the region, mostly within Chicago, Fassnacht said. “Pro-Chicago” decisions, as he called them, came from firms such as Uber Freight, Kimberly-Clark, Milwaukee Tool and Mars Wrigley.
For 10 straight years, the Chicago area has been No. 1 in business growth and expansion in a ranking by Site Selection magazine.
An effort announced nearly a year ago to promote business growth throughout Cook and neighboring counties continues to pay dividends and enjoys strong support from suburban officials, Fassnacht said. The effort brought WBC back to its original mission of promoting the city and suburbs. Critics said the organization became more city-oriented over the years.
About 25% of its $10 million annual budget comes from City Hall, Fassnacht said. Most of the money comes from corporate donations.
WBC also has heavily promoted the region to startups and venture capitalists.
Technology executive Mark Tebbe, a member of WBC’s executive committee, said, “Michael’s leadership and unwavering commitment to advancing innovation and promoting inclusive economic growth in Chicago have been instrumental in driving the substantial growth and expansion we’ve seen in recent years.”
