Robert J. Washlow, Class of 1970

Corporate executive and civic leader

In 2007, Robert Washlow established Bay West Management LLC, an entity through which to conduct his business activities focused on the development and operation of hospitality facilities and apartment communities. Such facilities include branded full-service hotels in metropolitan Chicago and Milwaukee, WI, and apartment communities throughout Illinois. For 9 years prior to establishing Bay West, Washlow served as executive vice president and then as chief executive officer and chairman of the board of directors for Lawson Products, Inc., a company engaged in the distribution of industrial products throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom.

Washlow began his career practicing law and representing clients in a variety of real estate and corporate engagements, assisting in financing transactions and counseling business entities and their principals. In the late 1980s, he merged his law practice into Vedder Price, where he concentrated on corporate and real estate law, served on the firm’s management committee, and chaired the firm’s real estate practice. Washlow has served as an officer and director of public and private companies, as well as non-profit agencies, and he has been a member of the Chicago-Kent Board of Overseers since 2004.