Crain's 40 Under 40 Includes Focus' Vicky Lee

Meet Crain’s 40 Under 40 class for 2025

Chicago's future is being built by this year's 40 Under 40 honorees.

By Rachel Herzog

Some lead companies shaping markets in finance, law, health care and real estate, while the entrepreneurs in our newest class are advancing ventures in architecture, hospitality, tech and film. They're bolstering our city through public service and nonprofit work. And they represent a generation balancing innovation with responsibility, leading across industries and communities during a period of economic uncertainty.

Their collective work highlights the depth of talent guiding the Chicago region's growth and their commitment to strengthening the civic fabric that holds it all together. Meet the leaders with the vision, drive and dedication to carry our city forward.

Photography by Organic Headshots

Vicky Lee, 39

Senior Vice President of Development, Focus 

As a kid growing up in Hawaii, Vicky Lee remembers looking into the windows of people’s homes from the backseat of her parents’ car at night and wondering about their lives. It’s a memory she says sparked her interest in architecture.

“You see how people live, and it always made me wonder — is it the environment that makes them look so happy, or is it truly their own family or culture?” Lee says. “Either way, it always came back to me (that) I want to create a place where people can foster the happiness that you see from that window.”

Creating those environments is her goal at Focus, where she led the Chicago-based developer’s foray into repositioning suburban malls with residential development. The Atworth at Mellody Farm, a 2019 apartment building that’s part of the Mellody Farm shopping center in Vernon Hills, was her first beginning-to-end project at Focus. 

Read the full story about Vicky's inclusion in the 40 Under 40 class from Crain's Chicago.