Michael J. Sacks will receive the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce’s Daniel H. Burnham Award for Distinguished Leadership this fall, with the recognition arriving during a period of continued expansion for the Chicago-based investment firm he has led for more than three decades.
The Chamber has named Sacks, chairman and CEO of GCM Grosvenor, as the 35th recipient of the award. He is scheduled to be honored at the organization’s annual Burnham Award Dinner on November 18 at the Hyatt Regency Chicago.
The timing puts a spotlight on both Sacks and the firm he has led since 1994.
GCM Grosvenor reported approximately $91 billion in assets under management as of March 31, 2026, up from approximately $82 billion reported a year earlier. The company now operates across private equity, infrastructure, real estate, credit and absolute return strategies, with approximately 560 employees serving institutional and individual investors.
For Sacks, the Burnham recognition comes 36 years after he joined the firm and 32 years after taking over as CEO.
Alternative Investments Continue to Expand
The award also comes as alternative assets play an increasingly prominent role in institutional portfolios.
GCM Grosvenor’s current platform includes approximately $33 billion in private equity assets under management, $27 billion in absolute return strategies, $19 billion in infrastructure, $17 billion in credit and $7 billion in real estate. Those figures include some overlap among strategies.
Infrastructure has emerged as a particularly active part of the business.
The firm’s infrastructure platform has more than tripled in assets under management over the past five years, reaching approximately $19 billion. In April, GCM Grosvenor hired Michael Albrecht as a managing director and co-head of direct infrastructure investments as the company continued to expand its capabilities in the sector.
That growth comes as investors seek exposure to projects associated with energy, transportation, digital infrastructure and supply chains.
GCM Grosvenor said in June that investments associated with its Infrastructure Advantage Strategy had generated an estimated $42.3 billion in projected economic impact through the end of 2025. The strategy, launched in 2018, has grown to more than $2.6 billion in assets under management.
A Firm That Has Changed Along With Its Industry
Sacks joined GCM Grosvenor in 1990, when alternative investments occupied a considerably smaller part of the institutional investment landscape.
He became CEO four years later.
Since then, the firm has evolved from an early participant in alternative investing into a publicly traded global asset manager. GCM Grosvenor today maintains offices in Chicago, New York, Toronto, London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Seoul and Sydney.
The company went public in 2020 and trades on the Nasdaq under the ticker GCMG.
Its expansion also illustrates the broader development of alternative asset management. Private equity, private credit, infrastructure and other private-market strategies have become increasingly significant components of portfolios managed for pension funds, endowments, insurers and other large investors.
GCM Grosvenor has expanded alongside that shift while maintaining its headquarters in Chicago.
Emerging Managers Remain Part of the Strategy
Another area of expansion has been GCM Grosvenor’s work with emerging investment managers.
Approximately $21 billion of the firm’s assets are invested with emerging managers, according to the company.
Its Elevate strategy, launched in 2023, provides capital and other support to newer private equity firms. The inaugural Elevate Fund completed fundraising in December 2024 with nearly $800 million in commitments.
In June, GCM Grosvenor announced a strategic partnership with Banner Capital through the platform, marking Elevate’s fifth partnership.
The initiative is one example of how the firm’s growth has increasingly included investments not only in underlying companies and assets, but also in other investment management businesses.
Burnham Award Adds a Chicago Milestone
Against that business backdrop, the Burnham Award provides a distinctly Chicago milestone for Sacks.
The Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce established the Daniel H. Burnham Award for Distinguished Leadership to recognize business leaders for civic contributions to the Chicago region. Previous recipients have represented industries ranging from finance and manufacturing to healthcare and professional services.
The 2026 dinner will mark the 35th presentation of the award.
Sacks’ selection reflects a career that has included both corporate leadership and involvement with major Chicago institutions. He currently serves as a trustee of Northwestern University and the Art Institute of Chicago and has held positions with several other civic, educational and nonprofit organizations.
Those activities provide context for the Chamber’s decision, but the recognition also arrives at a notable point in his business career.
More than three decades after Sacks became CEO, GCM Grosvenor now manages approximately $91 billion and operates across some of the fastest-growing areas of alternative investment management.
That makes November’s award more than a retrospective career honor. It arrives while the company Sacks has spent decades building is still expanding, and while the investment industry around it continues to change.
