ABOUT
Sarah Hammer is Executive Director at the Wharton School, leading strategic initiatives across Wharton Finance. She is also the Founder and CEO of Wharton Cypher Accelerator, a global financial technology accelerator. Working with 2023 Nobel Prize winner Dr. Drew Weissman, Hammer led the university-wide initiative to memorialize the mRNA invention on blockchain technology.
Hammer has held various positions at Wharton, including Managing Director of the Center for Innovation in Finance and Senior Director of the Alternative Investments Program. She is Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and Academic Director of the Penn Law Program on AI. She is also Affiliated Faculty at the Penn Program on Regulation.
In government roles, Hammer served as Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions at the US Treasury and a board member at the Securities Investor Protection Corporation. She was Acting Secretary of Banking and Securities for Pennsylvania and successfully led the Department through the March 2023 Banking Crisis. She was a board member of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), an Advisor to AI for Good, and led an initiative on AI in Finance for the UN High-Level Advisory Body on AI.
She has published in academic journals and is co-editor of a forthcoming Oxford University Press book on Generative AI. She is co-chair of the International Expert Consortium on AI. She is a member of the Bretton Woods Committee and an advisor at the World Economic Forum, the Dubai International Finance Centre, and the Digital Dollar Project.
Hammer has held leadership positions across financial services at Vanguard, PIMCO, JP Morgan Chase, BlackRock, and Tudor. Her legal experience includes assignments in both federal court and state supreme court.
Hammer holds a JD from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, an MBA from the Wharton School, and a Master of Studies from Oxford University. Awards and honors include the American Law Institute, a Harry S. Truman Scholar, the American Inn of Court, Pennsylvania City & State AAPI Power 100 (2023), TIME Best Crypto Course (2022), and Special Recognition from the Secretary General of the ITU at the UN.
