Mandee and Jonathan Polonsky

By Ginger O’Donnell

Mandee Polonsky, AB ’00, and her husband, Jonathan Polonsky, AB ’98, are both proud Chicago natives with deep family roots in the Windy City. Today, they reside in Chicago’s Lincoln Square neighborhood, where they each lead successful careers in health-care workforce development and finance, respectively, while raising three sons: Nathan, 17, Emmett, 14, and Isaac, 11. “Bringing up our kids surrounded by so many family members is special,” Mandee says. “And working in Chicago to give back to the city is something we’ve always wanted to do. We feel lucky.”

Their story, however, begins in a different Midwestern city: St. Louis, and at WashU, specifically, where the two met at a fraternity party through Jonathan’s identical twin brother, Daniel Polonsky, AB ’98. They were both students in Arts & Sciences — Mandee was studying political science and anthropology, and Jonathan, economics. They each had found their way to the university for their own personal, practical reasons, including Mandee’s generous financial assistance package and Jonathan’s attraction to WashU’s strong academics, beautiful campus, and positive referrals from friends. Notwithstanding a slight age difference, they clicked and never looked back.

Together, the Polonskys launched their careers in New York, where Mandee did a two-year stint with Teach for America and Jonathan took a job as a financial analyst for the Federal Reserve Bank. After applying to graduate schools across the country, they both landed spots at the University of Chicago, where Jonathan completed his master’s degree in business administration and Mandee earned a degree in public policy. Today, Jonathan is executive vice president of the economics consulting firm Compass Lexecon, and Mandee works as director of community health for Northwestern Medicine.

“I grew up in an affluent area, but I needed support to attend WashU,” Mandee says. “For this reason, I especially appreciate the meaning of a WashU education. The university was extremely generous to me, and I benefited so much from attending. That’s a big reason why I feel compelled to give back.”

Jonathan, whose father, Kenneth Polonsky, MD, served as head of WashU’s Department of Medicine for 10 years, also notes their enduring friendships at the university. “Mandee and I have a very deep connection to WashU,” he says. “We see and talk to our college friends all the time. Now, with traditional sources of funding at risk, we feel it’s even more important for alumni like us to be involved.” 

For Mandee, this sense of belonging and community — beginning during her time as a WashU student and extending well into adulthood — inspires her to engage as an alumni volunteer, for example, helping to organize her 25th class reunion last spring. It also informs her approach as the parent of a college-bound high school student. “Jonathan and I talk to our kids a lot about building their network and what that means,” she says. “Giving back to a place that builds community so well, in so many different ways, including creating spaces for students to become who they are and who they want to be, is very rewarding.”