Nivine Zakhari has used her unique blend of skills and degree in multiple disciplines to thrive at Microsoft for the past 14 years, but that journey started with her studying Industrial Engineering at the Cullen College of Engineering.
While Zakhari grew up in Florida, as a National Merit Scholar she had several options out of high school. She chose UH thanks to a competitive aid package, and the desire to experience something new.
“UH did a phenomenal job recruiting me into the Honors College with a full scholarship,” she said. “I had never visited Houston before, but the appeal of being in the fourth largest city at the time, and experiencing all that Texas has to offer — It was hard to resist the lure for something different after growing up in Florida.”
She added, “The NASA connection was also motivating, because growing up relatively closely to Kennedy Space Center and then having the opportunity to learn near Johnson Space Center, I mean who doesn’t imagine what it’s like to be an astronaut or part of the space program at some point?”
Zakhari was the youngest of three children, and she felt that desire to do something different from her siblings who stayed in Florida. Her father was an associate professor at the University of Florida College of Dentistry as well.
“My father was the OG Learn-It-All in our family. He loved to learn new things and if he wasn’t learning, he enjoyed teaching others, whether formally as a professor and through professional continuing education programs, or informally in family and community gatherings.”
Partially because of family influence, Zakhari started as a pre-med major, but the intellectual challenges and technology of engineering attracted Zakhari. She earned her B.S. and Master’s degree at UH.
“It took a few classes for me to narrow down to what I felt most comfortable with between electrical, mechanical or industrial engineering,” she said. “I liked learning a bit across all the engineering disciplines, but the additional time on human factors, operations research and systems design really helped me appreciate everything that goes into more human-centered performance development and optimization that is the core of IE. And with that foundation, continuing on to Engineering Management for my Master’s gave me more of the business perspective on things. That’s why I usually refer to it as the engineer’s MBA.”
Zakhari initially worked as a systems engineer and technical consultant in Houston, but that experience made her realize that she wanted to learn more about the legal aspects of the field.
“Between the dot-com bust and Enron debacle, which impacted me and a lot of others in the area at the time, the timing seemed right to upskill in the law,” she said. “I enrolled at UHLC in 2003 on a part-time basis initially, then shifted to full-time so I could graduate sooner in 2006.”
She found overlaps when it came to studying engineering and law. The degree has served her well as she continued to expand her education.
“The more I have learned, the more I appreciate the foundation I had studying IE first, then adding law, theology, government analytics and now elder law for my sixth degree program,” she said. “I used to joke that if you can’t solve it with engineering know-how, try the law; and if you can’t solve it with legal skills, then you need divine intervention. I’ve got the trifecta covered now!”
“And if you are working at the intersection of technology and law around elder care, you really have to be comfortable with the multi-disciplinary approach needed to address some of these challenges effectively, and with due care and empathy given the realities of our current demographics and budget constraints.”
At UH, Zakhari identified Randal Sitton and Miguel Gonzalez as being important influences in her success.
“They stood out for being so encouraging and patient as I progressed through the program, especially while working on my Honors Thesis,” she said. “I wouldn’t have been able to continue on to my Master’s in Engineering Management as a Stella M. Ehrhardt Memorial Fellow without their support.”
“When I came back to UH for law school, Dean Nancy Rapoport was, and continues to be, so inspiring. I’ll always be grateful for the opportunity to have her as a professor and role model, especially on matters of ethics and professionalism.”
After earning her law degree in 2006 and practicing as an attorney, Zakhari joined Microsoft in 2011 as a premier field engineer. Her role has changed and expanded as she has been promoted at the company.
“I love my role at Microsoft as Director of Customer Success for Intelligent Business Applications!” she said. “This has evolved over the years to combine the best of our field engineering, solution architecture, change management and business value practices to accelerate mission outcomes and value realization for our public sector customers.”
“This is some of the most fulfilling work I’ve been involved with in my career because it brings all my education and experience across multiple roles and industries together to address some of the most complex and challenging problems of our time. For someone who went through a lot of ERP related training that IEs tended to focus on in the 90s, the rapid advancement of AI Agents and Copilots is exciting when you consider how they can be used to quickly achieve similar outcomes at scale in a fraction of the time.”
When thinking about advice for current students, Zakhari paraphrased a saying made popular by someone more famous than her — You can try to learn it all, just not all at once.
“I’ve had to take a few unplanned detours in my studies and overall career journey that in hindsight turned out to be valuable learning opportunities that may have even helped me pivot in a better direction than I realized until much later,” she said. “Being able to pace myself, adapt to changes, stop and enjoy life, and prioritize the time for self-care and reflection has made such a difference in perspective and appreciation for where I am today. If anything, an IE should be able to optimize their own personal productivity to achieve their priority outcomes in a healthy and sustainable manner. That should lay the foundation for a rewarding career journey no matter what direction you feel called to move towards next.”
She had fond memories of her time on campus, even if it was now different in a positive way from her time there.
“UH has grown so much since I was an undergrad there, I just hope students are taking the time to appreciate all the school and surrounding community have to offer them,” she said. “It can be so easy to take it for granted until you’re not there anymore. I miss y’all, and Go Coogs!”