Tom Mereckis ' 90

As a freshman, Tom Mereckis ’90 gave several houses a shot in recruitment, but Delta Upsilon had an early advantage. Tom visited his lifelong friend Andy Kurkulis ’88 at the Chapter House while still in high school, and the brothers were all easygoing, smart, and (most importantly) funny.

“Those four DU years were a big influence on me growing from a kid into an adult—though my wife would argue I’m not fully adult yet,” Tom said.

Tom and his brothers learned to work and play hard as members of Delta Upsilon. “Dave Hecht ’88 and Brian Steck ’89 helped me figure out how to think about my career. Eric O’Daffer ’88, Dave Taraboletti ’89.5 Dave Sheikh ’88, and others taught me a lot about leadership. A lot of what I know about how to maintain a house started with Chuck Bleck ’90. The list goes on!”

His proudest role as a brother was his unofficial title of “VP Games,” bequeathed by his predecessor, Todd “Slug” Borrowman ’88. “I’d like to apologize to brothers from that era who were annoyed by my overly zealous pursuit of the duties of that office.”

Decades later, Tom has enjoyed a long career at Microsoft, where he co-founded the company’s first and still-largest data science team; he also co-invented the integrated search feature you can find on every Windows taskbar since version 8.1.

He’s most proud, however, of the simple things: building a happy marriage and raising three great kids (now in high school and ready for the next big step of college). “I did it the right way, and credit for learning the right way goes in part to my Illinois DU experience.”

For all these reasons and more, Tom leaped at the chance to help fund a house renovation for the Illinois Chapter. “I got and still get so much out of that experience, and I felt a duty to pay it back by donating myself and talking with others about doing the same. We can provide the same useful and fun growth opportunities to future generations.”

Tom and his family live in Bellevue, Washington, where they enjoy all the year-round outdoor activities from the mountains to the water. He keeps up with dozens of brothers and always enjoys catching up and joking around with them. But this isn’t a joke: Tom hopes you’ll join him in donating to the Honoring the Past, Building for the Next Century campaign!