John Chikow
President/CEO, The Magnificent Mile Association
“I was…I am an Eagle Scout,” says John Chikow with conviction when discussing his service-oriented career. Sitting in the middle of the newly renovated Blackhawks Store at 333 North Michigan Avenue, overlooking the Michigan Avenue bridge and Chicago River, the man who built his profession around non-profit work says it started with the Boy Scouts of America.
“I worked at the Chicago Council camp, the Owasippe Scout Reservation, in Michigan when I was young,” he recalls. “I was camp director when the first woman scoutmaster from Milwaukee stayed with us…and the world didn’t come to an end. We embraced change. I was there at a time when things were moving forward.”
Upon graduating from Missouri Valley College in the ‘70s with a degree in non-profit agency administration, Mr. Chikow worked for the Boy Scouts for nearly 17 years and spent some time in Pasadena, California. He moved back to his hometown of Chicago to run the Institute for Real Estate Management Foundation and joined The Magnificent Mile Association (then named The Greater North Michigan Avenue Association) in 1991 to meet people because he had been away for so long.
Explaining the history of the Association, Mr. Chikow says, “It was developed over 100 years ago to plan for the opening of the Michigan Avenue bridge. North of the Chicago River, there was nothing but industrial buildings and warehouses. The civic leaders wanted to create a grand boulevard. So, the Association was very involved with all the rules and processes to ensure that Michigan Avenue would be a world-class boulevard and not just another street. Today, businesses join to cross-promote their businesses and come together to discuss legislative issues.”
Early on in his time with the Association, Mr. Chikow was asked to “help light up Michigan Avenue” just before the holiday shopping season and The Magnificent Mile Lights Festival was born. “That was 23 years ago,” recalls the man who became president/CEO of the Association in 2009. “Very organically, as we grew, the members [of the Association] began to refer to the festival as the start of the holiday shopping season on the Mag Mile.” But Mr. Chikow is quick to point out that sales last well into the first week of January. “The businesses create season-long promotions. No one has ever focused on just one day or week. We promote the holiday shopping season and the family traditions that come from that.”
One of Mr. Chikow’s family traditions is taking his wife, Viki, and 20-year-old daughter, Emma, to Blackhawks games. As he explains how Emma is the bigger hockey fan, he glances around the store and starts talking about renovations on the Mag Mile. “Renovations are probably where the Association operates at its best,” he observes. “With the Blackhawks Store, there was an assessment by our Review Committee and various civic organizations that oversaw the redevelopment of this building to ensure that it remained in character of the Magnificent Mile district. Then our Urban Design Committee worked with the Hawks on signage. And when the store re-opened [on October 10], our marketing kicked in. So the end result is a great example of the Association’s multifaceted support of a great retail experience.”
In terms of the day-to-day at the Association, Mr. Chikow juggles many tasks. “We’re constantly either recruiting or trying to enhance the experience for members,” he says of one of the Association’s priorities. “Then we have high level networking events and activities: black tie dinners, luncheons, receptions, et cetera. There’s also a robust consumer marketing effort, and we have a stewardship role with our planning and advocacy group. On any given day, one of those groups will have a meeting and I’m expected to be there. It’s somewhat of a regular cycle, but the unexpected will happen. For example, I got a call at 3PM on a Friday that the Chicago Police Department just broke a major theft ring. I had to go to the press conference, as there were many happy detectives celebrating a lot of hard work.”
To relax and reset after putting in such long hours at his job, Mr. Chikow turns to golf. “I’ve got a whole list of courses that would be fun to play. The top item on my bucket list is to put together some nice, high-end golf outings. When I was single and living in Southern California, I got to play at Pebble Beach and went to Hawaii.” And when the weather doesn’t allow for golf? “I like to cook,” he says, smiling. “I’ll try to make anything I see on the Food Network…it runs the gamut. This weekend it was pot roast and oatmeal cookies. I’m also the family barbecue expert.”
Mr. Chikow finds time to hang out with old friends from the Boy Scouts, too. “I recently spent a weekend hiking and reminiscing with three of my dearest friends I’ve known since 1970. One’s a personality in outdoor sports, one’s a former network anchor for ABC’s Nightline and another is a vice president for a huge medical supply manufacturer. We married great women, have the best kids…we turned out to be pretty great guys.” But there’s one memory even his buddies might not be privy to…
“In my days as a young executive for the Boy Scouts, I had a perm,” reveals Mr. Chikow. “My job was to work with the high school youth, so I wanted something different. Not a super straight look. That lasted until I moved to California and they kept calling me ‘the curly hair kid.’ I had to adjust, and I’m glad I did.”