A cursory look at his life history and you’d likely never guess Terry Duffy, chairman and CEO of CME Group, would become a trailblazing figure in the world of women’s golf. The demographics alone kind of belie it.
A native of Chicago’s Southwest Side, Duffy grew up in the blue-collar, Irish Catholic enclave of Mount Greenwood, where many cops, firefighters and other city workers still proudly call home. Queen of Martyrs Elementary School. St. Leo High School (yes, the school with the spectacular choir of recent “America’s Got Talent” fame). Like most city boys who grew up in the 1960s and ‘70s, Duffy played baseball, basketball, football and hockey, depending on the weather. Occasionally, he’d hop the Halsted Street bus with some not-so-royal-but-relatively-ancient clubs and head to Marquette Park Golf Course, where he’d tee off on rubber mats and learn to appreciate the euphoria of a well-struck 7-iron.
Nor would his early professional life provide a clue. In the early ‘80s, Duffy, who left college early, found himself in the open outcry Live Hog pit at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, yelling out orders amid a sea of other boisterous dudes looking to make a buck on the smallest deviation in the price of swine.
Fast forward some 20 years to 2002, when Duffy took over as chairman of CME Group, then became executive chairman in 2006 (yes, we’ve skipped a lot). It was around that time that Duffy began hosting his Global Financial Leadership Conference (GFLC) in Naples, Florida, bringing together CME Group customers from all over the world. Because all work and no play makes for a one-dimensional financial conference, Duffy decided to have a pro-am.
His friend Natalie Gulbis, a popular LPGA Tour player at the time, gave him some ideas. What Duffy found was a group of highly talented, socially adept and financially motivated young LPGA stars who were more than willing to play in his event. His clients loved it.
“As I went through this first pro-am, I had people coming up to me saying, ‘That was the most incredible experience of my life,’” Duffy recalled. “So, I said, ‘Can you explain that to me?’ They said, ‘Terry, first of all, their swings are amazing. Their acumen around the short game and everything else is off the charts and the most important thing is they'll talk to you, and they communicate with you, and they appreciate you.’ I thought, my God, this is perfect. This is absolutely perfect.”
Soon thereafter, Jerry Rich, owner of Rich Harvest Farms (RHF) in Sugar Grove, host of the 2009 Solheim Cup, introduced Duffy, an RHF member and tournament sponsor, to Solheim tournament director Kelly Hyne of the LPGA.
Their first meeting, scheduled for 15 minutes, lasted two hours.
“We kind of hatched a plan that all came true times 10 over,” recalled Hyne, now senior vice president for brand alliance for Orlando City SC and the Orlando Pride men’s and women’s pro soccer teams. “Terry was a trailblazer. The timing of it, both their business and our business kind of coming together was why the magic happened. He was the one that had all the foresight to see that and see what it could become.”
Duffy saw a strong business case for CME Group’s involvement with the women’s tour. The company – now $100 billion in market capitalization – is in 150 countries in North and South America, Asia Pacific (including Australia/New Zealand) and Europe. The LPGA has an international footprint with events in China, Korea, Malaysia, France and the United Kingdom in addition to Arkansas and Ohio. And, of course, the LPGA has seen the prominence and dominance of South Korean women for years.
“Whoever wins, wins,” Duffy said. “My point is we (CME) win either way and that’s what is important to me.”
When approached in 2010 about sponsoring an annual LPGA tournament, Duffy wasn’t interested – not even if it was in Chicago, according to former LPGA commissioner Mike Whan, whom Duffy calls “a dear friend.” Whan is now the CEO of the United States Golf Association (USGA).
“He said, ‘I actually believe that my pro-am is changing more lives than me being a title sponsor would,’” Whan recalled. “He told me, ‘I’m not a tournament sponsor guy. When you have an event that isn’t just an event, come and talk to me.’”
Known for his salesmanship skills, Whan persuaded Duffy to host the CME Group Titleholders in Florida, but after a couple of years, it was “getting stale,” according to Duffy.
“I told Mike Whan, ‘I believe the women deserve a Tour Championship, and you guys don’t have one. I will be one.’”