Mary Dempsey

Biz community opens wallets for Vallas mayoral bid

With help from execs at Madison Dearborn, Citadel and other firms, Vallas pulls closer to Lightfoot and Wilson in the mayoral race for cash.

This Daley-era power broker has Lori Lightfoot's ear

As the mayor-elect prepares to assume office, Mary Dempsey, now president of DePaul College Prep, looms as a key influencer.

Irish power in Chicago politics and business — myth or not, it has an impact

Does the ethnic connection still hold sway, at the expense of other groups? Or is it a fading power that diminishes with each passing year?

DePaul Law gets biggest gift ever from Corboy & Dempsey

(Crain's) -- DePaul University College of Law graduate Mary Dempsey and husband Philip Corboy are donating a seven-figure sum to create a scholarship fund at the Chicago school. The Mary Dempsey and Philip Corboy Endowed Scholarship will provide partial scholarships to several students each year, beginning next fall. DePaul University declined to disclose the exact amount of the couple's gift but said it is the largest single gift the law school has received. Ms. Dempsey, the city's library commissioner, is a DePaul Law graduate. It's also the couple's second recent donation to benefit an alma mater. In September they made the biggest single donation Loyola University's School of Law had ever received. Loyola is where Mr. Corboy, co-founder of personal injury firm Corboy & Demetrio, earned his law degree. The university is naming its building at 25 E. Pearson St. the Philip H. Corboy Law Center in honor of the donation. Ms. Dempsey said in a statement Monday that financial assistance enabled her to earn her law degree from DePaul in 1982, and now she wants to return the favor and help students in similar situations. "Nobody is self-made in this life," she said. Ms.

Loyola names law building after Corboy

(Crain's) -- Loyola University announced Monday that it would name its School of Law building in honor of alumnus Philip Corboy and his wife, Mary Dempsey. Mr. Corboy has donated the largest single gift that Loyola's School of Law has ever received. The university would not divulge how much was given except to say it would be made over a 15-year period. Mr. Corboy, a 1949 Loyola graduate, is a high-profile personal injury lawyer in Chicago and co-founded the firm Corboy & Demetrio. The building at 25 E. Pearson St. will be dedicated in the fall as Philip H. Corboy Law Center. The donation will help pay for building renovations, new faculty and student scholarships. "My wife and I are privileged to support the law school's mission to educate future generations of great lawyers for Chicago and for our nation," Mr. Corboy said in a statement. The donation is not the first time Mr. Corboy and his wife have given funds to his alma mater. He created the Philip H. Corboy Fellowship in Trial Advocacy program in 1995 to provide scholarships to students studying trial law. David Yellen, dean of Loyola's School of Law,

For The Record

Rezko guilty of corruptionA federal jury found Antoin "Tony" Rezko guilty on 16 of 24 counts of pay-to-play corruption, including mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering for scheming to get bribes from businesses seeking state contracts. It found him not guilty of charges including attempted extortion. Mr. Rezko helped Gov. Blagojevich raise millions in contributions and placed associates in state jobs. After the verdict, Mr. Blagojevich, who has not been accused of wrongdoing, called Mr. Rezko "a friend" who "was a supporter." Rep. Julie Hamos, D-Evanston, said it's too early to say how the conviction might affect the governor's already sour relationship with the Legislature. "I don't think it can get any worse," she said. Senate President Emil Jones said the conviction would have "no impact whatsoever" on governing the state. The owners of Michael Reese Hospital have told state regulators that they plan to close it by yearend. The 127-year-old, financially distressed South Side hospital has been unable to find a new location or a lifeline to continue operation. The office of Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan accused ComEd of killing state legislation that would have eased the way for a new generation of coal-fired power

Library chief Dempsey heads DePaul board

(Crain's) -- Chicago Public Library Commissioner Mary Dempsey was elected chairman of the DePaul University board of trustees -- the first woman selected for the post at the 110-year-old school, the nation's largest Catholic university. The well-connected lawyer (a 1982 grad of DePaul's law school) is scheduled to take the job this fall, just as her alma mater moves to raise academic standards, increase enrollment and launch a fundraising campaign to pay for the expansion. Ms. Dempsey, 55, also will focus on recruiting replacement trustees to the 40-member board, which DePaul's president, the Rev. Dennis Holtschneider, says is confronted with generational turnover. A trustee for a decade, she led the board's search committee that brought Rev. Holtschneider to DePaul four years ago from Niagara University in Buffalo, he says. Ms. Dempsey, who has served five years as the board's vice-chair, says increasing scholarship aid is an important component of DePaul's strategic plan. "It is imperative that we continue to make DePaul financially accessible to first-generation students," she says. "These tend to be people who stay in Chicago, build their businesses in Chicago . . . and I think we will continue in that role." She

Brenda Sexton, public libraries team up on book-film series

(Crain's) -- The Chicago Public Library is taking its book clubs to a new level, teaming up with film promoter Brenda Sexton and her Chicago Link Productions to screen movies from highly acclaimed books. The first film on the viewing list of Library Night at the Movies will be "The Life Before Her Eyes," starring Uma Thurman and Evan Rachel Wood and based on the novel by Michigan native Laura Kasischke. The book prompts readers to examine the beauty in ordinary life after two characters are confronted by a gunman who asks that they choose which of them he should kill. "The goal is to highlight the strong synergy between great books and great films," Library Commissioner Mary Dempsey says of the program she hopes will become as popular as the One Book, One Chicago community reading program. "When you get a serious novel or book and it's turned into film, there's a good chance it's going to highlight the writer or book itself." Monday's by-invitation-only screening is being hosted by some of the city's most notable luminaries, including Chicago first lady Maggie Daley, Johnson Publishing CEO Linda Johnson Rice, Chicago Children's Museum Board President Gigi Pritzker

Daley pal gets big O'Hare contract

A consortium including a firm controlled by a friend of Mayor Richard M. Daley on Friday was selected for a multi-year pact to manage the first phase of the $6.6 billion reconstruction of O'Hare International Airport. In line to receive up to $50 million in fees over the next five years for building new runways and other work is a group that includes Harbour Contractors Inc., which is owned by mayoral associate Patrick Harbour. The winning group is headed by a division of Parsons Brinckerhoff Inc., a large New York-based engineering company, and city officials said the decision was made strictly on the basis of the group's qualifications. "We wanted to ensure that the construction manager chosen had a strong commitment to deliver the greatest value to the city," said Interim Chief Procurement Officer Mary A. Dempsey. "We believe that this process has accomplished these important goals." Parson's will own 30% of its the partnership, Harbour 29%. The Harbour and Daley families have close ties going back decades. Mr. Harbour's father built bridges for the Mayor Richard J. Daley, the father of the current mayor. Others in the Parsons group include d'Escoto Inc.,

Dempsey faces daunting task at City Hall

The librarian in chief who took control of Chicago's $1 billion-a-year purchasing office last week is still finding her way around her new office but her plans - if not how to achieve them - are clear. Mary A. Dempsey wants to weed out impostors from her new department's list of certified minority- and women-owned business enterprises. For legitimate MBE and WBE vendors, as they're known, she wants to demystify the process of dealing with the city and encourage more to bid for government contracts. She's also charged with giving teeth to a new executive order barring campaign contributions to the major from firms that have won city contracts. Along the way she'd like to redo the Department of Procurement Service's user-unfriendly Web site. "Our goal here is to lower the temperature," she said. The city has been under considerable heat over the past year as procurement scandals have rocked the mayor's office. It's a long to-do list and she has six months before returning to her job at the library. Part of her drive to root out fraud in handing out minority contracts will be politically complicated. "In the short term, you could

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