LAST EDITED ON 07-15-04 AT 02:04 AM (EST)I found an article in the SUN TIMES that pretty much sums up what Bill is up to.
Trump's 'eyes and ears'
July 12, 2004
BY PHIL ROSENTHAL TELEVISION CRITIC Advertisement
LOS ANGELES -- Those of us who work in the soon-to-be-dismantled Chicago Sun-Times building haven't seen much of Bill Rancic.
The pride of Orland Park, whose grand prize as winner of "The Apprentice" this spring supposedly was to oversee the 90-story tower that Donald Trump intends for the site, has been busy elsewhere.
"Am I showing up at the Sun-Times building every day? No, of course not," Rancic said over the weekend, during a West Coast PR push for "The Apprentice." "There's not a lot for me to do there. I'm not selling the units. I'm getting into the design-and-development stage. The job's taking me all over the country."
Rancic has been splitting his time mostly between Chicago and New York, where he has taped boardroom segments for the fall's second cycle of the NBC series. Filming takes place in between meetings with Trump and his people and regular appearances as a bold-faced name in the gossip columns in an effort to emulate his mentor as a developer of reputation.
"Right now I'm still in the learning phase," Rancic said. "I'm integrating myself in the system, so I'm shadowing him a lot. I call it the Donald Trump Boot Camp. I'm working with him as much as I can and if I'm not with him, I'm with one of his main construction guys, Greg Cuneo."
Though it was implied on NBC Rancic would manage the Trump International Hotel and Tower project in Chicago, his actual title of "owner's representative" more clearly spells out his duties. "I'm the eyes and ears for Mr. Trump in Chicago," he said, noting he "isn't barking out orders at people -- that would be absolutely ridiculous."
Trump, who's not so stupid as to leave a major investment in the hands of a relative novice, positioned Rancic as more than a figurehead on the project, but less than someone whose signature is the final word on anything.
"He's working with professionals," the Donald said of the Bill. "I have a group of very, very highly trained professionals that do nothing but put up buildings, but Bill is very much a part of it."
And the skyscraper at 401 N. Wabash is not all that's being built, thanks to "The Apprentice." "Look," Trump joked, sort of, "I thought I was the biggest star before, but now I'm bigger."
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