Final solution that worked and site that helped me realize this http://www.skylinetechnologies.com/Blog/Article/1309/Querying-Active-Directory-through-SQL-Server-Using-OpenRowset-and-OpenQuery.aspx

declare @name nvarchar(100)

declare @sql nvarchar(max)

set @name = 'Sanjay'

set @sql=

'SELECT * FROM OPENQUERY (

ADSI,

''SELECT givenname ,

sn,

displayname,

samaccountname,

telephonenumber,

mail,

department,

title

FROM ''''LDAP://domainobfuscated''''

WHERE

objectClass = ''''user''''

and objectCategory = ''''person''''

and givenName = ''''' + @name + '''''<----5, yes 5 single quotes around variable!

'')'

exec dbo.sp_executeSQL @sql

I don't know why it didn't error with just 4 single quotes...perhaps it was accepting the variable as a string.