May 26, 2025
SARFRAZ TAJ
CIVIC FEDERATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Number of years as a member: 5
You joined the Civic Federation Board of Directors in 2019. What drew you to our work and what do you think of the Civic Federation’s value in Chicago’s civic community?
Of the many compelling facets of the Civic Federation’s work, the rigorous fiscal analysis that is the backbone of the research that the Federation leads, was one of the most attractive features that drew me to the organization. Over a span of 130 years, the Federation has established a track record of focused research around topics of importance to Chicago and Illinois, which has led to the recognition of the Federation as a trusted independent, non-partisan government research organization. I saw research as a foundational pillar of the Federation’s vision: “that all residents and leaders in Illinois and the Chicago region are empowered with the education, insights, and fact-based research to effectively advocate for and promote sound government practices and policies.” Since joining the Federation, I’ve been pleased to have observed a deep commitment from Federation staff, Executive Committee members, and the Board of Directors to excellence in research and thereby execution of the vision. It’s a defining characteristic of the Federation and what sets it apart from other civic groups in Chicago.
What do you find most exciting about where the Federation is going, particularly in light of our new President and Strategic Plan? What is your greatest wish for the Civic Federation for the road ahead?
As with all Civic Federation board members, I deeply admired Laurence Msall -who passed in February 2023 after having served as the President of the Federation for 21 years – and knew that Laurence’s legacy was a high mark for any new leader at the helm of the Federation to deliver to. I was hopeful as the extensive search to find the new face of the Federation got underway, but I felt uncertain if we’d find the right person. The appointment of Joe Ferguson as President and the development and publication of the Federation’s Strategic Plan – that he since spearheaded, however, allayed that and established Joe as the right leader at the right time.
I believe the need for the Federation’s trusted, authoritative, nonpartisan voice is greater than ever, to not only continue delivering on its core mission – to analyze and promote sensible fiscal and governance policies and transparent practices in the pursuit of better delivery of government services, but to also work towards increased public engagement and education, deeper subject-matter work, and stronger organizational governance and transparency – all of which the Strategic Plan endeavors to accomplish. Through this, I want the Federation to support the needs of Chicagoans to help navigate the complexity and magnitude of this pivotal time. I’m encouraged that through its fierce commitment and focused approach in executing the Strategic Plan, the Federation is well-positioned to deliver.
As Director at Constellation and former Director at Exelon, what trends are you seeing in the energy industry and how do you think these trends will impact the public, private, and nonprofit sectors locally?
It’s truly a unique time in the power industry – we’re observing demand growth in the U.S. that has been unrivaled over the past several decades. Some of the key demand drivers are expansion of data centers, AI, electrification, and reshoring of manufacturing. Although there are varying projections and we don’t have perfect clarity on the exact magnitude of the demand growth, even if half of the average growth projected is to be realized, it would be formidable.
Data center sizes, and thereby energy usage, have grown orders of magnitude over the last decade - growing from single-digit megawatts to hundreds of megawatts of power consumption. We’re also observing exponential growth in computing power. I recently toured the Aurora Exascale Supercomputer at Argonne National Laboratory, which is one of the world’s most powerful supercomputers. The peak power usage of Aurora is 60 megawatts – to put that into perspective, that’s equivalent to powering nearly 55,000 average U.S. homes.
Adding to the unprecedented growth, there’s also a dimension of power reliability and resiliency that some of these loads require. Datacenters, for example, depending on their type and use case, can have exacting power requirements – such as Tier 4 datacenters – which require uptime guarantees of 99.995%, meaning only about 26 minutes of downtime over a period of a year.
All the while, renewable energy generation penetration on the U.S. electric grid continues to grow, which helps address the demand growth but also exacerbates availability concerns borne from the intermittency of wind and solar driven by seasonality and time of day. Fundamentally, the U.S. grid is a complex network of transmission and distribution systems. The electric grid uses a system of frequency regulation to maintain a stable power frequency of 60 Hz, which is critical to operating everything connected to the grid and overall stability. This regulation is achieved through a combination of spinning reserves and demand response mechanisms.
The confluence of significant power demand growth, requirement for high availability, reliability and resilience while managing emissions and keeping power prices affordable is what makes this multi-dimensional challenge so interesting. Meeting the needs of the grid will require an all-of-the-above approach, but generation sources such as nuclear and gas (especially when paired with carbon capture) offer clear advantages and will continue to be critical assets in the supply stack for the U.S. grid. Nuclear is especially well-positioned given its attributes of high reliability (~95%), high resiliency, ancillary services to the grid, and no emissions.
Growth in the energy sector will spur growth across other supporting business sectors. We will need to work together with stakeholders to ensure positive, equitable impacts on our communities. These will be realized through new direct and indirect job opportunities and improvements to local schools and services from a larger tax base. Energy jobs provide opportunities to build technical expertise that translate into long-term, stable careers in well-paying positions across a variety of trade, operational, and STEM roles, enabling families to lay roots in communities and grow them through reinvestment. I’m excited to see energy sector growth stimulate these positive effects.
As an experienced industry leader in energy and nuclear power, what are your thoughts on the Chicago quantum computing campus and what will be needed infrastructure-wise. Is Chicago prepared to support this future?
Quantum computing is fundamentally different from conventional computer technology. Whereas conventional computers operate through a binary system to encode information in bits, quantum computers leverage qubits, which can exist in multiple states simultaneously enabling parallel processing and exponentially faster computing. Among the many advantages and revolutionary scientific advancement possibilities, quantum computing also offers the benefit of being much more efficient than conventional computers from a power consumption perspective.
The Chicago Quantum Computing Campus, also known as Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park (IQMP), through public-private partnerships and billions of dollars of investment, will establish Chicago as a leader in quantum computing. We’re very much in the nascent stages of quantum computing, so I’m thrilled about the possibilities across the near endless applications on new frontiers in medicine, materials science, climate research, and astrophysics, among many others.
It’s encouraging to see Governor Pritzker’s support of the project which holds such great potential but also aims to revitalize the community through new jobs and investment.
What impact are you trying to make and what types of challenges are you most often working to address?
I’ve had the privilege of building a career that’s spanned a wide range of technical and business experiences, and I’m passionate about helping others see the vision of what’s possible and supporting them in pursuing their goals. I got involved early in my professional career presenting to students at middle schools, high schools, and colleges showcasing the opportunities STEM careers offer. I found that’s a crucial stage for students to be exposed to what different areas of study mean for career options and how they should position themselves. It connects the dots for them when they think about “why am I learning this?” I’ve also plugged into various employee resource groups at work and more broadly industry organizations, such as the Project Management Institute and American Nuclear Society, to mentor professionals. As the pace of technological change accelerates, the imperative to continue personal and professional growth is even greater. I’ve forged strong relationships by making myself available and keeping my door open to colleagues and young professionals seeking to learn, collaborate, rundown ideas, get feedback, or just unwind.
More broadly, in support of efforts to take down systemic barriers to education and advancement, I’ve been engaged with The Citizens Foundation, which has created a network of 2,033 purpose-built schools with an all-female faculty of 14,700 teachers to help enable access to education to underprivileged kids in Pakistan. TCF’s success restores hope and brings me great fulfillment to see the great heights TCF alum are reaching all around the world.
What's your favorite Chicago hidden gem?
I love Chicago! It has served as a nexus for our country; its importance and innumerable contributions across a multitude of disciplines as a great American city cannot be overstated. Chicago, perhaps more than any other major city, has the convergence of so many defining attributes – a beautiful skyline, river and lakefront, people, culture, food (for the record, Chicago pizza > NY pizza!), history, parks, architecture, museums, theater, and sports (teams that keep us hopeful, even if not always celebrating…).
Although very prominent, the underlying history and stories behind the beautiful architecture of Chicago is a gem for me. Especially, taking a dinner cruise along the river or a speed boat ride on the lake on a hot summer day coupled with a guide providing the backstories, facts, and evolution of Chicago and its beautiful architecture.
What do you most enjoy doing in your free time?
I enjoy a broad gamut of activities in my free time. I most enjoy spending time with my family – playing sports with my daughters, who play basketball and run cross country, and traveling throughout the U.S. and internationally. Other times, it’s simple things like strolling through a cars-and-coffee meet on a weekend morning with my son, watching him marvel and excite over the cars.
Sarfraz is an energy industry leader who’s held a variety of roles over more than two decades leading the development and execution of a diverse portfolio of projects spanning research, supporting operating nuclear reactors, engineering, project management, business development, and mergers/acquisitions. In his current role, he helps realize the growth objectives of Constellation through mergers/acquisitions and strategic projects. Constellation signed a $29bn dollar acquisition of Calpine in January of 2025.
In previous roles, Sarfraz led global business development supporting international clients in the development of new nuclear and improvement of existing nuclear power programs setting up offices and business entities in Europe, Japan, the Middle East, and the UK.
Sarfraz earned Senior Reactor Operator certification from Braidwood Station. His nuclear industry experience includes nuclear fuels, transient analysis, core reload analysis, thermal hydraulics and neutronics modeling, and spent fuel management; engineering roles supporting reactors across Constellation’s fleet; and project and asset management.
Following the Missouri River flood of 2011, Sarfraz was stationed at Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant near Omaha, Nebraska to assist with recovery and restart. Via Exelon’s operating services agreement, Sarfraz led execution efforts for major projects in the multi-year, successful recovery and restart of Fort Calhoun.
Sarfraz held research positions at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the Center for Plasma-Material Interactions, and at Argonne National Laboratory in the Computational Physics & Hydrodynamics division. His research efforts included investigations into edge localized modes plasma physics in support of verifying theoretical models that would ultimately lead to the development of technologies that are used for commercial plasma lithography.
Sarfraz earned a BS in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MBA from the University of Chicago – Booth School of Business.
Sarfraz has served on the Executive Committee and Board of Directors of The Civic Federation for nearly six years and has been volunteering with The Citizens Foundation – Chicago Chapter for over ten years.