By: Ann Saphir July 28, 2007
Excerpt: "People looked at us like we were insane and smoking something, given it was Berkeley," Mr. Sandor recalls.
His idea broke big in 1975, when, as the Chicago Board of Trade's chief economist, he invented the interest-rate futures that eventually cemented Chicago's place as the world's derivatives capital.
Today, Mr. Sandor appears on the cusp of another breakthrough. His Chicago Climate Exchange is positioned for breakneck growth as lawmakers prepare to mandate carbon-emissions trading, thrusting what had been an idealistic and marginal local marketplace into the forefront of the fight against global warming.
Chicago Climate Exchange Chairman and CEO Richard Sandor, left, and Mayor Richard M. Daley announced the opening of the exchange in 2003.