Barack Obama's election is keeping a pair of top executives at Ariel Capital Management in the news. Saturday's edition of the Wall Street Journal carries an profile of Ariel founder and CEO John Rogers, who has a number of connections to the Obama family. Meanwhile, the WSJ has named Mellody Hobson, Ariel's president, as number 38 on its 2008 "50 Women to Watch" list.

On election day one could find Rogers on the basketball court playing hoops with Obama, the paper reports. Indeed, it was basketball that brought the pair together. Rogers was a contact of Michelle Obama's brother, Craig Robinson. Both Rogers and Robinson were stars on the Princeton University team, although their careers did not overlap.

Indeed, a Sports Illustrated article from 2000 suggests that the three-on-three game -- a regular pastime for Obama -- is one that the president-elect crashed rather than vice versa.

It was Rogers who put Obama and former Chicago Bull Michael Jordan on the same court for a game of one-on-one.

We also find out from the WSJ article that Rogers "eats at McDonald's every day" and that he sees himself as a "liaison" tying Obama "to the investing community, small-business owners and corporate executives."

"I'm just a part of the Obama team," he told the paper.

Still, the paper reports that Rogers is not part of Obama's formal transition team and adds that it does not expect Rogers to take a job in the Obama administration. Hobson, on the other hand, is being talked about for a post and is considered a dark horse for the top job at Treasury. 

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