Susan Hammer, a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, served two terms as the 62nd Mayor of San Jose CA. Ms. Hammer prepared the city for the 21st Century with an array of visionary and progressive programs including Project Diversity, which brings a broader range of residents to serve on city boards and commissions; Recycle Plus, a nationally recognized program integrating city-wide recycling and waste hauling; San Jose Education Network, which enhanced cooperation between City Hall, local schools and private business; the Greenline Initiative, a city planning measure designed to permanently preserve hillsides for open space; and the governmental reforms New Realities Task Force, concentrating on organization, personnel and revenue issues.

Ms. Hammer also created the Mayor's Gang Prevention Task Force, which brought together city and county officials, law enforcement agencies, community service organizations and former gang members to counter gang activity in the city. This, and similar initiatives, are credited with San Jose being ranked one of the safest major cities in the country.

She was appointed her to the President's Advisory Committee on Trade Policy and Negotiations by President Clinton, who cited her leadership talents and ability to forge consensus between the public and private sectors. She was the first elected official and the first woman to chair that prestigious panel. Ms. Hammer is extremely active in many local and state-wide political and philanthropic projects, with education reform being her particular passion.