The Indian American most recently served as Chicago’s deputy mayor, where he was in charge of economic and neighborhood development.
Samir Mayekar, a former Chicago deputy mayor for economic development, has been named managing director of the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Chicago, effective Nov. 6. The Indian American “will play a pivotal role in advancing UChicago’s ambitious priorities in innovation, technology commercialization, and entrepreneurship,” according to the center.
The Polsky Center provides venture support to students interested in entrepreneurship as well as comprehensive training to students interested in a career in venture capital and private equity. In 1998, it was founded at the Chicago Booth.
According to a press release issued by the center, “Mayekar’s work in both high-tech innovation and urban economic development is well-matched to its goals and mission, including the advancement of a wide range of technologies—from clean energy and life sciences to quantum, information sciences, and data science.”
He was most recently the deputy mayor of Chicago, where he was in charge of economic and neighborhood development. The center described him as “a driving force behind initiatives such as the city’s INVEST South/West initiative.”
Mayekar stated in a statement that he is “ecstatic” to “enhance the Polsky Center’s role as a platform to both support local economic development on the South Side and advance the commercialization of globally needed technologies to solve critical issues.”
Before joining the Obama administration, Mayekar worked for the city of Chicago and was a member of the White House’s national security team as well as the executive team at the United States International Development Finance Corporation.
He co-founded and served as CEO of NanoGraf Corporation, a global manufacturer of advanced materials for the lithium-ion battery industry that spun out of Argonne National Laboratory and Northwestern University and has raised more than $100 million in funding. At Credit Suisse and Marakon Associates, he also worked in investment banking and management consulting. He is involved in the Chicago nonprofit community, having served as president of the Northwestern Alumni Association, a trustee of Northwestern University, and chair of the Albany Park Theater Project.
He holds a BA from Northwestern University (summa cum laude) and an MBA with distinction from the Kellogg School of Management. He has been awarded both the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans and the Marshall Memorial Fellowship.
