He was the first employee of Cushman and Wakefield in Chicago more than 30 years ago, but now Howard Ecker  is a superstar in his own right. The Howard Ecker + Co. founder started his career as the primary leasing agent for the John Hancock Center, then went on to work for the man who created the Mag Mile, Arthur Rubloff at Rubloff & Co. It was just eight years before he broke off to start Howard Ecker +  Co., later Jupiter Realty Co., but has since taken back its original name (plus a brief phase as The Artist Formerly Known as Ecker). It now has offices in New York, Charleston, Miami, Denver and Detroit. "I left the largest company at the time because I thought it would be better to be on my own," Ecker said. "We're not just processors, we really are dealmakers."

Howard is known (and he says, made fun of) for his snappy dressing. He tells us he mostly wears black and white, but just different black and white than most people. His company mixes tenant rep with environmental ideals, encouraging tenants to keep up green  standards in cleaning and maintenance. He points us to his website to learn more about the Eckerian Perspective, which includes concepts like "Experience=Lazy" and "The F-Word."  (Failure. What were you thinking?)