• Government Gigs: Mayor of Chicago; Chief of Staff to President Obama; Illinois Congressman; Senior Advisor to Bill Clinton
• Wall Street Career: Investment banker at Wasserstein Perella

There's no question that Rahm Emanuel has enjoyed a long and distinguished career in public service, but it was his short stint in the private sector that proved most fruitful on the financial front.

Between government jobs, the often-feisty politician worked as an investment banker at Wasserstein Perella, reportedly earning a whopping $18 million in only two and a half years on the job despite having no prior experience in finance.

While there, he worked on numerous deals involving government regulation, including the mega merger of utilities Unicom and Peco Energy.

NEXT: Timothy Geithner