Research Director

Research Director Sarah Wetmore oversees all of the Civic Federation’s research efforts. Sarah joined the Federation in 2006 and was previously the Civic Federation’s Director of Communications, managing all media and public relations in addition to directing the redesign of the Federation’s website.

Sarah earned her Master of Arts degree in the Social Sciences from the University of Chicago in 2004. Her 2005 Johnson Prize-winning thesis, "The 2001-2002 Crisis and Democratic Stability in Argentina," used a case study comparison methodology to explore the cultural and institutional reasons Argentine democracy weathered the politico-economic crisis of 2001-2002.

Prior to joining the Civic Federation, Sarah worked as an analyst with a boutique investment consulting firm and at DePaul University. She holds a BA from Knox College, where she graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa and won the Dean Acheson Prize for Outstanding International Relations Major.

Sarah is a volunteer English as a second language (ESL) tutor with Christopher House, a social service nonprofit in the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago. A rabid White Sox fan, she can be found many summer nights, scorecard in hand, at US Cellular Field.