Larry Huggins (born c. February 1950) is the president and chief executive officer of Riteway-Huggins Construction Services (formerly Riteway Construction Services Inc.) He is the former board chairman of the Chicago-area commuter rail service

Metra Metra is the primary commuter rail system in the Chicago metropolitan area serving the city of Chicago and its surrounding suburbs via the Union Pacific Railroad, BNSF Railway, and other railroads. The system operates 243 train station, stati ...

Career

Huggins recovered from

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

in the 1970s via

affirmative action Affirmative action (also sometimes called reservations, alternative access, positive discrimination or positive action in various countries' laws and policies) refers to a set of policies and practices within a government or organization seeking ...

for Chicago contractors. He is also and alumnus and the former principal of

Englewood Technical Prep Academy Urban Prep Charter Academy succeeded Englewood High School, Englewood Technical Prep Academy and TEAM Englewood Academy High School in Chicago. Englewood was a public four-year high school located in the Englewood neighborhood on the South Side ...

. Huggins is among the contractors who built AT&T Corporate Center (now known as Franklin Center). He served as vice president of Black Contractors United in the mid-1990s. Huggins is the founder of the annual Chicago Football Classic

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

game played at

Soldier Field Soldier Field is a multi-purpose stadium on the Near South Side, Chicago, Near South Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Opened in 1924 and reconstructed in 2003, the stadium has served as the home of the Chicago Bears from the National ...

between two

historically black colleges and universities Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of serving African Americans. Most are in the Southern U ...

. He was appointed to the

board of directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

of Metra by

Chicago Mayor The mayor of Chicago is the chief executive of city government in Chicago, Illinois, the third-largest city in the United States. The mayor is responsible for the administration and management of various city departments, submits proposals and ...

Richard M. Daley Richard Michael Daley (born April 24, 1942) is an American politician who served as the 54th mayor of Chicago, Illinois, from 1989 to 2011. Daley was elected mayor in 1989 and was reelected five times until declining to run for a seventh ter ...

in 1997 and became acting chairman in April 2011. The board was supposed to select a permanent chairman from within its ranks by July 2011, but Huggins felt the chairmanship was a Republican position and withdrew himself from consideration. Huggins served as acting chairman until November 2, 2012 when he was replaced by Brad O'Halloran. Huggins resigned from the board in August 2013 days after O'Halloran resigned. Huggins' resignation came after conversations with Chicago Mayor

Rahm Emanuel Rahm Israel Emanuel (; born November 29, 1959) is an American politician, advisor, diplomat, and former investment banker who most recently served as List of ambassadors of the United States to Japan, United States ambassador to Japan from 2022 ...

about a patronage scandal. His company has been involved in construction at

O'Hare International Airport Chicago O'Hare International Airport is the primary international airport serving Chicago, Illinois, United States, located on the city's Northwest Side, approximately northwest of the Chicago Loop, Loop business district. The airport is ope ...

and

McCormick Place McCormick Place is a convention center in Chicago. It is the largest convention center in North America. It consists of four interconnected buildings and one indoor arena sited on and near the shore of Lake Michigan, about south of the Chicago ...

, including the $115 million no-bid contract to manage the airport's people-mover system. Riteway Construction Services Inc. was the

general contractor A contractor (North American English) or builder (British English), is responsible for the day-to-day oversight of a construction site, management of vendors and trades, and the communication of information to all involved parties throughout the c ...

for

Cook County Hospital The John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County (shortened ''Stroger Hospital'', formerly Cook County Hospital) is a public hospital in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is part of Cook County Health, along with Provident Hospital of Cook Cou ...

. His company's role with the County Hospital was controversial when Riteway missed filing its 1997 corporate annual report, leading the

Illinois Secretary of State The secretary of state of Illinois is one of the six elected executive state offices of the government of Illinois, and one of the 47 Secretary of State (U.S. state government), secretaries of state in the United States. The Illinois secretary of ...

to dissolve the company on January 2, 1998 just prior to the spring 1998 groundbreaking for the $551 million, 464-bed hospital that was four years in the making.

Personal

Huggins spent part of his youth in Atlanta and part of it in the Englewood community area of Chicago. His sister, Phyllis, died in 1992.

References

External links

Huggins archive
at ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Huggins, Larry 1950 births Living people Businesspeople from Chicago