Martin Nesbitt

President and chief executive of The Parking Spot (since 1998)

Why He Matters

Nesbitt is one of Barack Obama's closest friends. Before Obama became president, their daughters played together nearly every week, and Obama is godfather to Nesbitt's youngest son. Nesbitt was an early supporter of Obama's Senate campaigns and later for the presidency. He donated money to Obama's campaigns and bundled for the candidate as well.

During the 2008 presidential campaign, Nesbitt became Obama's campaign treasurer, presiding over the largest campaign war chest in presidential campaign history. Nesbitt, a former high-school basketball player, also played in Obama's regular pick-up basketball games on primary days, a tradition that became a superstition for the candidate.

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Background

At a Glance

Career History: Campaign Treasurer for Barack Obama's presidential campaign (2007 to 2008); Vice president of Pritzker Realty Group (1996 to 1998); Vice president for LaSalle Partners (1991 to 1996)
Hometown: Columbus, Ohio
Alma Mater: Albion College, B.A., 1985; University of Chicago, MBA, 1989

Spouse: Dr. Anita Blanchard
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Path to Power

Nesbitt grew up in Ohio and attended Albion College in south central Michigan. During college, he interned at Deloitte Haskins & Sells in Detroit, and after college, he got a job as a financial analyst with General Motors Acceptance Corporation, the financial services branch of General Motors. Because the building was being remodeled when he got there, Nesbitt shared an office with the company treasurer. "If the treasurer got there at 7:30 a.m., I made sure I was there by 7. If he left at 8, I didn't leave until 8:30," he said.

Nesbitt's work at GMAC earned him a GM fellowship and full tuition at business school. He chose the University of Chicago, where he met his future wife, Anita Blanchard, who was in medical school there. Because of her, Nesbitt decided not to return to GM after getting his MBA. Instead, he began as an associate at LaSalle Partners, a real estate investment company based in Chicago. It took Nesbitt just two years to work his way up to vice president at LaSalle and another three years for him to become vice president for equities.

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The Issues

Nesbitt's biggest asset is that he's Obama's close friend. Their families have spent vacations together and Nesbitt's children often played with Obama's daughters on Saturdays. During the 2008 campaign, Nesbitt and Obama got together on Sundays to watch football like they often did before the campaign began.

During the campaign, Nesbitt was one of the friends who tried to keep Obama grounded. "In case you're not living in the real world, being driven around by Secret Service, it just cost me $85 to fill up my tank," Nesbitt wrote to Obama in a summer 2008 e-mail. Nesbitt has been known to help Obama's moods not get too low or too high.

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As campaign treasurer, Nesbitt managed the finances of the gigantic money machine that was the 2008 Obama presidential campaign. But he also played a perhaps more important role as a member of Obama's regular pick-up basketball game. The group played basketball the morning of the Iowa caucuses, which Obama won, and then skipped the regular game for both New Hampshire and Nevada, which Obama lost. "He [Obama] was trying to figure out what we did differently in Iowa," said Eric Whitaker, another longtime friend and regular pick-up basketball player. "We played every primary day ever since."

Successful Businessman

Outside of the campaign, Nesbitt is a businessman, and an extremely successful one. The Parking Spot is his pet project, and it has grown into a very profitable business. It's a simple program that revolves around off-site airport parking and having your car ready when you return, with a full tank of gas optional. Revenue has tripled in the last five years and is up to $80 million per year.

By putting black spots on a big yellow bus, Nesbitt and Mark Wildman, vice president for marketing, make The Parking Spot easily recognizable, and it has 200,000 members enrolled in its loyalty program. "Our shuttles are like billboards for us," Nesbitt has said.

Nesbitt is chairman of the board for the Chicago Housing Authority, which is tasked with overhauling Chicago's public housing. "I was fascinated by the mayor's plan to reintegrate the communities into the fabric of the city and reverse the cycle of poverty plaguing families living in public housing," Nesbitt said. The CHA builds or renovates public housing developments, offers support services such as employment assistance and works with the Chicago government to eliminate bureaucracy. One of the organization's strategies - attracting middle income home owners into a development with low-income housing - has drawn criticism for taking away low-income units from housing developments. Nesbitt also oversaw the implementation of a program that required people to work or be looking for work in order to qualify for low-income housing. "We cannot truly help to rebuild a life on the one hand if we say, on the other hand, that it is OK to sit and do nothing," Nesbitt said.

He is a trustee of Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art and is on the board of the University of Chicago's Lab School. He was formerly active in Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America, was chairman of the DuSable District of the Boy Scouts of America and was a member of the United Negro College Fund Advisory Council.

Chicago 2016

Nesbitt was a key part of the push to host the Olympics in his hometown in 2016, and he helped ensure the first couple attended the final round of competition to win the games in Copenhagen.

Despite the Obamas' appearance, Chiacago lost the games to Rio de Janeiro.

The Network

Nesbitt is at the center of Obama's Chicago social network. He was recruited to play basketball at Princeton by Craig Robinson, Michelle Obama's brother, and has stayed friends with Robinson and the Obamas for years. Barack Obama is the godfather to Nesbitt's youngest son, and Nesbitt's oldest son played on a basketball team coached by Robinson at the YMCA in northern Chicago.

In 1996, Nesbitt was hired by Penny Pritzker as vice president of Pritzker Realty Group, and one year later, Pritzker invested $50 million in The Parking Spot, an airport parking project that was Nesbitt's brainchild. The company now makes more than $80 million a year in revenues.

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Campaign Contributions

Nesbitt has donated more than $35,000 split among a variety of Democratic candidates since 1999. More than $11,000 of that went to Obama. He was the campaign treasurer for Obama's 2008 presidential campaign and was one of the candidate's top bundlers.

(photo courtesy White House / Pete Souza)

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