Genesis Business Humanity Board Member Aaron Hammer is an energetic and highly effective polymath, contributing to improving lives through his work as a respected attorney, investor, entrepreneur, thought leader, and philanthropist. He devotes his time, treasure, and talent to leadership organizations, professional associations, charitable causes, and more, blending his experience in business with a passion for the hospitality industry and lifelong commitment to the betterment of society.
In addition to his membership in Genesis Club, Aaron is an active member of the Young President’s Organization (YPO), a premier leadership organization that provides a global platform for chief executives to engage, learn, and grow. As Membership Officer for YPO’s Chicagoland Chapter and Illinois Area Chair for the YPO Mid-American Region, Aaron is committed to identifying and developing future leaders destined to impact organizations and the community they serve.
As Past President of the Chicago/Midwest Chapter of the Turnaround Management Association (TMA) and TMA Global Executive Board Member, Aaron is dedicated to the corporate turnaround community both locally and globally. As a champion of the TMA Chicago/Midwest Chapter’s Executive Speaker Forum (ESF), Aaron has led teams in bringing a dozen world leaders to Chicago over the last decade to engage TMA membership on political and economic issues. Past ESF honorees include President George W. Bush, Senator Mitt Romney, Prime Minister Tony Blair, and Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen.
As Co-Director of Development and Board Member of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Midwest, Aaron is committed to fighting antisemitism, hate, and bullying in every form. He is an active fundraiser for ADL causes and champion of ADL’s First Amendment Freedoms Art & Essay Contest, which offers students the opportunity to earn scholarships for submissions on how the First Amendment affects their daily lives and provides educators with the resources they need to facilitate that discussion.
Aaron devotes his legal practice to solving his client’s most challenging insolvency and creditors’ rights issues by emphasizing a practical, business-oriented, relationship-based approach in both distressed transactions and related litigation. Over twenty-five years, Aaron has led major engagements on behalf of corporate borrowers, lenders, and financiers and, most notably, bankruptcy committees in hundreds of significant bankruptcies and workouts across the country and in many foreign countries. He is a shareholder and partner at the global AmLaw 100 firm Kilpatrick, Townsend & Stockton LLP (KTS) in its national Bankruptcy & Financial Restructuring practice group.
Raised in an international family business, Aaron carries on his family’s tradition of entrepreneurship as a principal, partner, and investor in special situations and healthy transactions, with a focus on hospitality, professional services, and real estate.
Aaron is the Managing Partner of Bisteca Hospitality Group LLC. In this capacity, Aaron manages restaurant operations, business development, and strategy for Red South Beach and its related businesses. Prior to this role, Aaron was (and remains) an active investor in multiple award-winning restaurants, including a fine dining concept with 3 Michelin stars, an iconic gastropub that boasts Bon Appétite’s top cheeseburger in America, as well as TimeOut Chicago‘s top fast-casual ramen shop with multiple city-wide locations.
Aaron is a founder and principal of Calle Piedra LLC, which owns and operates a dozen high-end luxury villas in Marbella, Spain. He previously served as chairman of the board of NuCheck Advantage, a nationally recognized background checking and technology firm, as Chairman of the Executive Committee of Sugar Felsenthal Grais & Hammer LLP, and on the four-person Executive Committee of HMB Legal Counsel, which combined with KTS in March 2024.
Less than 12 months after graduating magna cum laude from Northwestern University School of Law at the top of his class, Aaron was appointed to the faculty as an adjunct professor of law, where he revolutionized the insolvency curriculum by developing three new insolvency classes and teaching them to over 300 students for nearly a decade.
Aaron was the youngest professor ever appointed to the school’s faculty in its then 100+ year history at age 25. Since then, Aaron has received nearly continuous recognition for his achievements in law for his clients and the larger corporate turnaround community. Aaron has been recognized as an advocate for his creative solutions in the most challenging insolvency matters by leading publications such as Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, Turnarounds & Workouts, The Wall Street Journal, and The Financial Times.
On February 3, 2023, The M&A Advisor announced the winners of its 17th Annual Turnaround Awards. Aaron Hammer was named “Legal Advisor of the Year” for his extraordinary track record of client representations, including many notable recent transactions and disputes resolved and lifelong contributions to the turnaround industry. Genesis Business Humanity Club is honored to have Aaron as a Board Member, contributing his strategic mind, creative approach to problem-solving, and legal expertise to our organization and the entrepreneurs we support.
Learn more about Aaron here.
