Ex-Lightfoot economic development chief to lead Polsky Center

The deputy mayor for economic development under former Mayor Lori Lightfoot has landed a new role in academia as managing director of the University of Chicago’s Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

Samir Mayekar, who spearheaded everything from the Invest South/West initiative to the Chicago casino during his tenure in city government, will take the reins at the university’s 25-year-old technology and business development program on Nov. 6.

A tech entrepreneur before he became deputy mayor, Mayekar will look to commercialize academic innovation at the University of Chicago, taking on challenges such as climate change and the responsible application of artificial intelligence.

“The mission of an organization like the Polsky Center … is to ensure that the right types of pathbreaking technologies reach market, and that universities leverage the amazing talent they have to build companies to shape the future,” Mayekar said.

The Polsky Center was founded in 1998 to foster entrepreneurship for students at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. It has since expanded to include tech commercialization, deep science funding and a community-facing, small-business development program on the city’s South and West sides.

Recent initiatives include launching Duality, the nation’s first quantum technology accelerator program.

Mayekar will replace Jay Schrankler, a business executive and tech commercialization veteran who left in July after nearly four years at the helm of the Polsky Center. The new managing director spent most of that time navigating the world of Chicago politics as the city grappled with a once-in-a-century pandemic.

“Samir brings a marvelous energy to building partnerships and is creative and thoughtful in his approach to new business opportunities,” University of Chicago President Paul Alivisatos said in a news release Wednesday.

As deputy mayor, Mayekar was the driving force behind Invest South/West, a groundbreaking program to invest $750 million in mixed-use developments across 10 underserved communities on the South and West sides.

A signature initiative of the Lightfoot administration, Invest South/West launched new developments in communities such as Englewood, Auburn Gresham and Humboldt Park. But the projects have been slow to get off the ground.

“Many of them still have to find financing to close, they have to go through their city process, entitlements, etc.” Mayekar said. “But from when I came into City Hall in 2019, to where we are today, you have just a transformative level of economic activity in terms of a pipeline, and you also have cranes up in the air.”

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration has already said it will take a “very different path” toward catalyzing development in underserved neighborhoods, including a new name for the as-yet unannounced initiative.

Mayekar was also instrumental in the selection and development of Chicago’s first casino, a process that has drawn criticism from aldermen, neighboring residents and the also-ran bidders.

“I think anything of consequence that you build, it usually comes with controversy,” Mayekar said.

Rhode Island-based Bally’s won a heated competition last year, besting four other proposals with its plan to build a $1.74 billion casino at the site of Tribune Publishing’s Freedom Center printing plant in River West. It plans to open the permanent casino in 2026.

Medinah Temple in River North, which will serve as a temporary casino for up to three years while the permanent facility is built, opened Sept. 9. It drew 80,000 visitors and generated nearly $6.7 million in adjusted gross receipts during its first three weeks, according to Illinois Gaming Board data.

“I think what matters is that you do what you say you’re going to do, you stay connected with the community, you make good on your promises and ultimately you execute,” Mayekar said. “And when you look at the Bally’s project, at least phase one of it, those have all come true, and I’m proud of that.”

Mayekar, 39, who grew up in Texas, attended Northwestern University as an undergraduate and then served in the administration of President Barack Obama, where he was part of the White House’s national security team. He returned to school to earn an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, focusing on the development of clean energy.

While at Kellogg, he led a team that took new battery technology to market. In 2018, Mayekar co-founded and was inaugural CEO of NanoGraph, a Chicago-based startup spun out of Northwestern University and Argonne National Laboratory to develop materials for lithium-ion batteries. The company has raised more than $100 million in funding.

Mayekar traded in the CEO role to become deputy mayor in 2019 but remains a shareholder and adviser to the management team at NanoGraph. He said the “lived experience” of bringing a technological innovation to market will serve him well in his new role at the Polsky Center.

“This was my life for a decade, and I’m just really proud to be able to bring that experience and give back to a university, because that’s really what set my career on a different path 10 years ago,” Mayekar said.

A Kenwood resident, Mayekar said the University of Chicago and the city are on an “ascendant trajectory” in the world of deep tech commercialization.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Energy announced a $1 billion federal funding award for Illinois, Indiana and Michigan to develop the Midwest Hydrogen Hub, a network to produce “clean” hydrogen fuel to decarbonize manufacturing. The Polsky Center is involved in that project.

The University of Chicago is also a partner university in the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Chicago, a new biomedical research center that launched earlier this month in the Fulton Market district.

After dealing with City Council for four years, Mayekar feels confident he can foster the kinds of partnerships it takes to keep the development pipeline flowing through Chicago.

“When we win big things lately, it comes from collaboration,” Mayekar said. “Continuing to build bridges with the Chicago ecosystem to make sure that we continue to win these opportunities, and that University of Chicago is at the center of many of them, that’s going to be important to me.”

rchannick@chicagotribune.com

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