 Profile
Preston Hammer is an active fundraiser in San Francisco for charitable causes and a life-long entrepreneur.
Preston Hammer currently serves on the Board of Directors of SAMBA Development Group, a real estate development company he founded in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Mr. Hammer served as Chief Executive Officer of the company during the first two years of its founding. The company, backed by knowledgeable real estate investors in the U.S. and abroad, acquires land in premier South American tourist destinations, designs and builds unique condominium complexes, and then sells units in the new developments to buyers seeking investment returns from unit price appreciation and rental revenue. SAMBA Development Group is currently building and selling condominium units for three different complexes (Seabreeze, Seapoint and Seaview) in the exclusive, beach-resort town of Carilo, Argentina.
Prior to SAMBA Development Group, Preston Hammer was the Senior Managing Director at Birchwood Publishing, Inc., where he expanded the wedding, special occasion and corporate event magazine, Wedding Sites and Services, across the Unites States. Mr. Hammer increased the company’s top line revenue by nearly 250%, enhanced its Internet site, and developed extensive advertiser reporting capabilities that resulted in an advertiser renewal rate of over 90%.
Before Birchwood Publishing, Preston Hammer served as Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of gazelle.com, Inc., a leading Internet retailer of legwear and legcare products. Mr. Hammer raised over $8 million in angel financing and venture capital for the company. At the forefront of the market for selling its type of products over the Internet, gazelle.com’s merchandise had unique attributes suitable for the medium, such as high repeat purchases, low shipping costs, 55% guaranteed margins and the ability to carry more SKUs than traditional retail formats.
Prior to gazelle.com, Preston Hammer spent nearly six years in the investment banking industry, first as an Associate and later as a Managing Director. He managed over $150 million for high net-worth individuals, families, actors, athletes and companies. In addition, Mr. Hammer introduced in excess of $800 million in investment banking deals that ranged from initial public offerings to secondary offerings and mergers/acquisitions.
Between his two years of business school, Preston Hammer worked with senior management at Franklin Resources, Inc. on the $960 million acquisition of The Templeton Group, now known as Franklin Templeton Investments.
Mr. Hammer received his master’s in business administration (MBA) from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, where he graduated high distinction, Beta Gamma Sigma. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Stanford University, where he served as Senior Class President and Founder of the Stanford Chapter of Sigma Nu fraternity, and was inducted into the Stanford Leadership Circle.
An active philanthropist, Preston Hammer has organized a number of charity events in San Francisco that have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to help support the fight against homelessness in the city. He has received numerous awards and accolades for his efforts.
For both his entrepreneurial endeavors and charitable work, Preston Hammer has been interviewed for a number of television broadcasts, including NBC Bay Area News and CBS Bay Area News, and has appeared in such U.S. publications as The San Francisco Chronicle, The San Jose Mercury News, The Peninsula Times Tribune and The Nob Hill Gazette, and such South American publications as La Nacion, Clarin, Living, Casa Country, Bosque y Playa and Diseno y Decoracion.
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