On June 13, 2021, Samir Mayekar (’06 WCAS, ’13 MBA) will offer the 2021 Convocation Address to graduates.
Mayekar is a first-generation American and holds a B.A. from Northwestern University (summa cum laude) and an M.B.A. with distinction from the Kellogg School of Management, where he received the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans. During his time at Northwestern, he also was the drum line captain of the Northwestern University “Wildcat” Marching Band.
Mayekar served as the President of the Northwestern Alumni Association (2018 – 2020), and on Northwestern’s Board of Trustees (2016-2020). He currently serves on the Weinberg College Board of Visitors. Mayekar is also a guest lecturer at Northwestern University on energy and entrepreneurship.
He is co-founder of NanoGraf Corporation (formerly SiNode), a global manufacturer of advanced materials. NanoGraf Corporation’s technology has widespread applications for battery-based technologies such as smartphones, drones, and electric vehicles.
Today, Mayekar is Deputy Mayor for Neighborhood and Economic Development for the City of Chicago, after previously serving in the Obama administration in the White House and at a federal infrastructure finance agency.
Mayekar’s path is one he never anticipated as a political science major at Weinberg College, but one that emerged as he learned about himself and the world.
After graduating from Northwestern in 2006, Mayekar took a consulting job at Marakon Associates. Two years later, he left that role to join Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.
“President Obama’s platform was something I believed in,” says Mayekar, who as budget manager helped raise nearly $900 million for Obama’s first presidential bid. The part he relished most was working with a cohesive, enthusiastic team that lived by the motto “Respect, Empower and Include.”
After the election, Mayekar worked at the White House for two years where he was National Security Director of the Presidential Personnel Office at the White House — overseeing appointments at the Pentagon, State Department, Department of Homeland Security, and Central Intelligence Agency. He then joined the Overseas Private Investment Corp., a U.S. government agency that invests in emerging markets and energy projects.
That experience led him to another passion: the energy sector.
As he grew to appreciate the role that energy plays in propelling economic development and improving quality of life, Mayekar came to believe that clean energy presented the most sustainable path to global good.
“That’s when I knew I wanted to build a deeper career in the energy sector,” said Mayekar, whose own father worked in oil exploration in the Gulf of Mexico. “I realized I needed to plant my own mast and bring together all the different things I was passionate about.”
In 2011, Mayekar returned to Northwestern to pursue his MBA at the Kellogg School.
When he and three classmates learned about the innovative battery research being conducted by Northwestern engineering professor Harold Kung, they convinced Kung to allow them to commercialize the technology.
Mayekar and his teammates launched NanoGraf Corporation (formerly SiNode Systems) in 2012.
“We’re doing our part to contribute to the clean energy economy,” Mayekar said. “If our technology ends up in electric vehicles someday, burning less fossil fuels that contribute to pollution and global warming, that will be exciting for us.”
In 2016, he was appointed to Northwestern’s board of trustees. He reflected on the transformative impact that Northwestern University had on his life in an interview with the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans:
“It is an honor to serve on the board of trustees of my alma mater, an organization which transformed my life. Via Northwestern I met my wife, made best friends, founded a technology company, and landed a job on President Obama’s campaign in 2008 which led to the White House.”
After a decade of volunteering for the Northwestern Alumni Association (NAA), Mayekar became the youngest president to ever serve. Upon his appointment he shared his goals for NAA:
“We want to continue to adapt to today’s digital world, stay relevant to alumni who live around the globe and make sure the NAA serves the alumni of today and tomorrow,” Mayekar said. “We have 20 other amazing leaders on the board who care deeply about this institution, bring senior leadership experience and reflect the demographics of today’s students. These are the people who will help the alumni association chart a new path for the future.”
Mayekar also has deep neighborhood roots in Chicago, having served as the board president for Third Coast Percussion, a Grammy Award-winning percussion quartet, and for the Albany Park Theater Project, a multiethnic youth theater ensemble. He is fluent in Spanish and married to Northwestern alumna Dr. Emily Mayekar, an orthopedic surgeon working at Illinois’ largest trauma center serving Chicago’s South Side.
Last year in the midst of the pandemic, Mayekar spoke to graduating class of 2020 during the first-ever virtual commencement. He reflected on the importance of alumni staying connected to Northwestern:
“Our shared experience as Northwestern students gives us a common bond that is lifelong,” Mayekar said. “Wherever you go and whatever you do nurture the ties you share with your fellow Northwestern University alumni.”
Mayekar shared how the Northwestern community profoundly impacted his life, from opening the door to opportunities at the White House, to founding a company, to connecting him to this current role:
“I can attest to the importance of staying connected to your classmates. Three of the most inflection points of my career happened because of Northwestern alumni” Mayekar said. “The northwestern alumni community has profoundly impacted my life, and that is why I chose to remain invested in a place I love so much.”
Learn more about Samir Mayekar:
Samir Mayekar: Chicago’s Deputy Mayor of Neighborhood and Economic Development – The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans (2019)
The entrepreneurs behind NanoGraf Corporation reveal how they built an international company around a Northwestern battery technology – Northwestern Now (2019)
New directors elected to Northwestern Alumni Association – Northwestern Now (2018)
Paths: Samir Mayekar -Weinberg College Alumni Magazine (2016)
Five Questions with Entrepreneur and Newly Appointed Northwestern Trustee Samir Mayekar (2011 Fellow) – The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans (2016)
Recognizing Contributions of New Americans – Northwestern Now (2012)