Samir is the co-founder and executive director of Fifth Star Funds – a venture philanthropy fund enabling the city of Chicago to be the “friends and family” investors of Black tech founders.

Previously, he was the co-founder and chief technology officer of mobile advertising leader TapCommerce in New York, which was acquired by Twitter for $100M in 2014. At Twitter in San Francisco, Samir was the head of engineering for mobile app promotion and led the engineering teams that grew the product's annual revenue to $300M. He then lived in Berlin, Germany, where he taught code at the ReDI School for Refugees and was an entrepreneur in residence for Techstars. 

Samir currently resides in Chicago where he advises early-stage tech startups and consults with organizations supporting underserved communities. He has a computer science degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Master of Business Administration from NYU Stern.