Martin Nesbitt

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.

A businessman by trade, Nesbitt started The Parking Spot, a lucrative airport satellite-parking company that is recognizable from its large yellow buses covered with black spots. Nesbitt started the company with financial backing from Penny Pritzker, the CEO of Pritzker Realty Group. Nesbitt later introduced Pritzker to Obama, and she became Obama’s 2008 national fundraising chair.

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.Palmer, Ann Therese, “Emphasis on teamwork helps land perfect spot,” Chicago Tribune, July 21, 2008; http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-mon-path-martin-nesbit-jul21,0,2236664.story  

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.Palmer, Ann Therese, “Emphasis on teamwork helps land perfect spot,” Chicago Tribune, July 21, 2008; http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-mon-path-martin-nesbit-jul21,0,2236664.story 

At LaSalle, Nesbitt noticed that parking revenue remained remarkably stable, even during economic downturns. He developed a plan to provide parking at airports and shopped it around, ultimately sitting down with Penny Pritzker, president of Pritzker Realty Group. Instead of buying into his plan, Pritzker offered him a job as a vice president of her company. A year later, she invested $50 million in Nesbitt’s airport parking dream.Bianchi, Alessandra, “Park with a smile; Reinventing the humble airport garage,” Fortune Small Business, May 2007

Now, the Parking Spot, which distinguishes itself by using yellow vans with big black polka dots to transport passengers, has more than 35,000 parking spots nation-wide and $80 million in annual revenue.Sharkey, Joe, “The lowly parking garage with the colorful identity,” The New York Times, Nov. 6, 2007; http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/06/business/06road.html 

Meanwhile, Nesbitt helped facilitate Pritzker's new friendship with Michelle and Barack Obama. As a high school basketball player, Nesbitt, was recruited to play basketball by Princeton University when Michelle Obama's brother, Craig Robinson, played there. Nesbitt did not end up going to Princeton, but he and Robinson both attended University of Chicago business school and stayed in touch. Robinson coached Nesbitt’s oldest son at the YMCA in northern Chicago and the Obamas attended games there.Lipper, John, “The Power of Penny Pritzker,” Bloomberg Markets, Oct. 2008; http://www.bloomberg.com/news/marketsmag/mm_1008_story1.html  Pritzker's children also played at the YMCA, and she became friends with the Obamas because of Nesbitt.

Obama, who is godfather to Nesbitt’s youngest son, eventually tapped Nesbitt to be his campaign treasurer. After Obama won the presidential election, Nesbitt, who has five children and a wife who is a successful Chicago obstetrician, doesn’t plan on following his famous friend to Washington, D.C., to join the administration. But expect Nesbitt to be a frequent guest at the White House.Kantor, Jodi, “Obama’s closest friends form strategy for staying tight-knit,” The New York Times, Dec. 14, 2008; http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/us/politics/14friends.html?hp 

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.Kantor, Jodi, “Obama’s closest friends form strategy for staying tight-knit,” The New York Times, Dec. 14, 2008; http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/us/politics/14friends.html?hp 

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.Murray, Shailagh, “In Obama’s circle, Chicago remains the tie that binds,” The Washington Post, July 14, 2008; http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/07/14/ST2008071400153.html 

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.”Nicholas, Peter, “Obama’s other running mate: a basketball,” Los Angeles Times, Oct. 4, 2008; http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-na-basketball4-2008oct04,0,4261211,print.story  

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.

Nesbitt’s wife, Anita Blanchard, is an obstetrician at the University of Chicago Medical Center where Eric Whitaker also works and Michelle Obama worked as vice president.

Blanchard delivered Obama’s two daughters, Malia and Sasha. Both Blanchard and Whitaker were mentored at the University of Chicago Medical School by James Bowman, Valerie Jarrett’s father. Nesbitt is also the chairman of the board of the Chicago Housing Authority, which works primarily with Habitat Co., run by Jarrett. Plus, Nesbitt was a regular in Obama’s pick-up basketball game during the 2008 campaign. Other regulars included John W. Rogers (who used to be married to White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers), body man Reggie Love and Obama’s Education Secretary Arne Duncan.

Campaign Contributions

Nesbitt has donated more than $35,000 split among a variety of Democratic candidates since 1999.Center for Responsive Politics; http://www.opensecrets.org/indivs/search.php?name=Nesbitt%2C+Martin&state=IL&zip=&employ=&cand=&c2008=Y&all=Y&sort=N&capcode=hn6x4&submit=Submit  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.Hinz, Greg, “Coming of age; Black business leaders are flexing muscle as political fundraisers,” Crain’s Chicago Business, April 16, 2007
 

(photo courtesy White House / Pete Souza)