Samir Mayekar

Samir Mayekar currently serves as the Managing Director at the Polsky Center at the University of Chicago and a Lecturer at the Harris School of Public Policy, where Samir created the "Modern Urban Economic Development Playbook" course. Additionally, Samir holds the position of Visiting Scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and has been a Co-Founder and Former CEO of NanoGraf Corporation since 2011. Previous roles include Deputy Mayor of the City of Chicago, Co-Chair for the Lori Lightfoot Transition team, Advisor at Albright Stonebridge Group, Deputy Chief of Staff at the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, Director of National Security Personnel at The White House, and Budget Manager for Obama for America. Samir holds a BA in Political Science, International Studies, and Spanish, as well as an MBA in Finance and International Business from Northwestern University and the Kellogg School of Management.