Anne Dias Griffin, Founder, Reboot Illinois and Aragon Global Management

Why we're watching: In 2012, Griffin launched RebootIllinois.com, a for-profit website featuring original opinion and aggregated news about education and fiscal reform.<br>
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Griffin had been Reboot's sole investor. But billionaire industrialist Lester Crown and his son, James Crown, have become investors No. 2 and No. 3. Chief Operating Officer Madeleine Doubek declined to release the investment amount.<br>
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"The investment came about because Anne took us through her proposal of what she was hoping to accomplish," James Crown said. "Both my father and I are deeply concerned about a number of challenges we face, and we felt Reboot was a good pathway to keeping people informed and helping them participate."<br>
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Griffin, who declined comment, also runs a hedge fund, Aragon Global Management. She also is a leading Republican donor and married to Kenneth Griffin, founder of the hedge fund Citadel.<br>
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"I think the (fiscal) issues the state faces are bipartisan, nonpartisan and past partisan," Crown said. "And political affiliations are really secondary."<br>
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Reboot features crisp design and is not overtly partisan. But it remains to be seen whether wonkish topics and thoughtful op-eds, no matter how sharply displayed, can ever be sexy enough to attract the masses.<br>
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<I>Photo: Ken and Anne Griffin stand next to their Degas bronze "Little Dancer" in 2016. (Andrew Campbell Photography/Chicago Tribune file photo) </i>

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( January 7, 2013 )

Why we're watching: In 2012, Griffin launched RebootIllinois.com, a for-profit website featuring original opinion and aggregated news about education and fiscal reform.

Griffin had been Reboot's sole investor. But billionaire industrialist Lester Crown and his son, James Crown, have become investors No. 2 and No. 3. Chief Operating Officer Madeleine Doubek declined to release the investment amount.

"The investment came about because Anne took us through her proposal of what she was hoping to accomplish," James Crown said. "Both my father and I are deeply concerned about a number of challenges we face, and we felt Reboot was a good pathway to keeping people informed and helping them participate."

Griffin, who declined comment, also runs a hedge fund, Aragon Global Management. She also is a leading Republican donor and married to Kenneth Griffin, founder of the hedge fund Citadel.

"I think the (fiscal) issues the state faces are bipartisan, nonpartisan and past partisan," Crown said. "And political affiliations are really secondary."

Reboot features crisp design and is not overtly partisan. But it remains to be seen whether wonkish topics and thoughtful op-eds, no matter how sharply displayed, can ever be sexy enough to attract the masses.

Photo: Ken and Anne Griffin stand next to their Degas bronze "Little Dancer" in 2016. (Andrew Campbell Photography/Chicago Tribune file photo)