In conversation · Family Advisory and Philanthropy Services

Pete Kadens, Hope Chicago and Kadens Family Foundation

February 20, 2024·22 min

Legacy gets treated as daily practice. Sarah Solomon opens from the UBS Family Advisory and Philanthropy Services perspective, with family legacy presented as something built through decisions, goals, and purposeful action. Pete comes in through entrepreneurship and philanthropy. He is introduced as a co-founder of Green Thumb Industries, a former CEO, and the chairman of the family foundation and Hope Chicago. The main problem is educational access. Pete says researchers found a $944 million educational funding deficit in Chicago over the next decade for students who want post-secondary training but cannot afford it. His answer keeps coming back to fairness. Hope Chicago is described as a way to fund college, associate degrees, trade schools, and upskilling for students looking for a different economic path. Sarah then names the structure underneath the work. She points to mission, scale, and research as practices families need when they plan philanthropy around the change they want to make. That turn gives the interview more bite. Giving is not treated as a neat side project after success. The conversation asks how philanthropy changed Pete's identity after retirement. That transition sounds harder than expected. Pete says the first six or nine months after retiring in 2018 were among the hardest of his life, even with financial freedom at 40. That contrast gives the episode its weight. Wealth without purpose can feel disorienting, especially after entrepreneurial leadership. Sarah keeps the advisory lens in view without rushing past the discomfort. She uses it to connect personal turning points with the slower work of legacy. The institutional details matter. Hope Chicago's mission is not general generosity. It is a targeted response to inequity through qualified educational access. The tone stays practical and contained. Even when the conversation touches purpose, inequity, and a difficult transition, it keeps asking how values turn into structure, funding, and durable public benefit.

As heard by us

A thoughtful conversation about legacy, identity, and philanthropy with a civic edge.

Pete's story shifts the focus from success itself to what follows it: identity, purpose, and the question of how money can serve a real public need.

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Why you'd press play

You want a serious look at legacy after a founder retires.

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