Rob Hammock PPS’93: Housing is the Goal. Policy is the Playbook.

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Rob Hammock arrived at Duke in the Fall of 1989 with a jump shot honed on the South Side of Chicago and a growing desire to make a difference in the world. The basketball court had long been a place where strategy, teamwork, and grit came together. But it was a seminar in education policy during a prospective student weekend that shifted his focus toward public policy.

His undergraduate years happened to coincide with Duke’s back-to-back NCAA championships. He soaked in the electric energy of Cameron Indoor, but he also found something just as energizing in the classroom. His public policy courses demanded analysis over opinion and clarity over cleverness. 

After graduating in 1993, Rob began building a career rooted in the same principles he had sharpened at Sanford: discipline, rigor, and a deep commitment to justice. Today, he serves as Vice President of Lending at Mercy Community Capital, a national Community Development Financial Institution focused on affordable housing and community infrastructure. His team works with developers serving low-income families, seniors, farm workers, and individuals experiencing homelessness.

From early roles in helping to create affordable housing to leadership positions at mission-driven financial institutions, Rob has spent more than two decades ensuring that capital flows to projects designed to build stronger, more equitable communities.

What has carried through all those years is a core belief. Access, dignity, and opportunity should not depend on your ZIP code. And just like in basketball, he believes lasting wins come through collaboration, smart execution, and a relentless commitment to the long game.

We recently chatted with Rob about his career after Sanford.

Tell us about your journey to Duke. Did you specifically want to attend Duke for public policy?

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Duke appealed to me in multiple ways when I was making my college decision. Academically, I knew it would push me. Aesthetically, the campus was beautiful and inviting—from the gardens to the Gothic architecture. Athletically, it didn't hurt that I had been a basketball junkie since growing up on the South Side of Chicago. The whole package was compelling, but the prospective student weekend as a senior in high school sealed it for me when I got to sit in on Dr. Charles Clotfelter's Education Policy seminar. I had a burgeoning vision to want to help others, and that class helped to show me a path forward.

Do you have any specific fond memories of Duke/Sanford that you have stayed with you since?

I graduated in 1993—a year too early to be able to appreciate and take advantage of the new Sanford building—but I had fond memories of classes on Old Chem and the Soc/Psych buildings in the heart of West Campus. I truly appreciated the various ways that my public policy courses taught me to think. From Drs. Lipscomb and Mayer in the intro PPS 55 to Dr. Miranda's microeconomics course, I was pushed and prodded. This was not a place for lazy analysis that could rely on well-worded opinion-based arguments that might be short on facts and data. The capstone of my public policy work was realized when I had the opportunity to participate in the public policy program abroad at the University of Glasgow. Intellectually and personally, that was perhaps my most defining semester of study as an undergrad.

What impact has Sanford had on your professional and/or personal journey?

The disciplines of critical thinking, problem diagnosis, and solution structuring shone through in the combination of coursework, and I continue to be grateful for them today. The additional skill that I think may serve me best of all of these is the ability to craft a readable, well thought out memo. I have now worked in affordable housing finance for over 25 years, and my writing ability continues to be one of my best assets that I think sets me apart. I can't remember if it was Dr. Miranda's or Dr. Ascher's re-wording of Shakespeare's quip that "brevity is the soul of wit" that has stayed with me, but I will never forget "concision is a virtue; verbosity a vice”…even if I don’t always hit the mark!

Why does public policy matter in 2025 and beyond?

At first blush, living in the United States in 2025, it's hard not to want to respond to this question cynically. The discourse surrounding our national politics has devolved into soundbites and name-calling that are inadequate to the task of thoughtful public policy analysis. Yet I feel like I can hear the voices of my professors pushing me not to get sucked into the short-sighted and inadequate thinking that is our current political discourse. There may be less inclination toward deep, wonk-ish policy analysis, but I can use my skills to re-focus on collaboration and coalition-building to demonstrate a different way forward that politics does not have to be a zero-sum game. If America is to be a country to survive beyond its first 250 years, then we must find a way forward for all people to live into their own "pursuit of happiness." A vision for our country that willingly limits who has the right to that pursuit to one group of people over another is not worthy of continuing the evolving American democratic experiment.

Terry Sanford implored students to 'stand for something.' What do you stand for?

I am proud to be a part of Terry Sanford's academic lineage, and I am grateful to work for an organization that states its values so clearly as my current employer. The values of respect, justice, and mercy are core to the work we undertake at Mercy Housing and Mercy Community Capital to provide affordable housing opportunities for those most in need. I came into Duke with a bit of a bleeding heart, but I was unsure how to translate that into action. My burgeoning sense of justice at that time was tied to my faith understanding to "do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly." My understanding of that verse and my values have evolved over the decades, but these still ring true, and the legacy of the Sanford School is that I have a framework to help move from words about justice and mercy to making them actually be embodied in practice.