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Meet Wharton's Newest Faculty: Patrick Harker

November 05, 2025 / 01:47

This episode features Pat Harker, Rowan Distinguished Professor at Wharton, discussing his career and insights on fiscal policy and service management.

Pat Harker shares his background, growing up in Gloucester City, New Jersey, and his extensive experience as president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia and the University of Delaware.

He emphasizes the importance of applying academic expertise to influence practical policy solutions, particularly in financial services and technology management.

Harker expresses excitement about returning to Wharton, highlighting the opportunity to engage in academic discussions he previously avoided during his tenure at the Philly Fed.

He addresses the serious challenges facing the country and the need for implementable policies to navigate these issues.

TLDR

Pat Harker discusses his career and the need for practical fiscal policy solutions.

Episode

1:47
00:00:00
That's a tough one. I'm Pat Harker. I'm the Rowan Distinguished Professor and Professor of
00:00:05
Operations, Information, and Decisions here at the Wharton School. And I grew up right across the river in a little
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town called Gloucester City, New Jersey, just south of Camden, New Jersey. So before coming back to Wharton, I was
00:00:17
president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia for 10 years. Prior
00:00:21
to that, I was president of the University of Delaware right down the road for eight years. And before that I
00:00:28
was here at Wharton as dean for eight years. So my area of expertise is around [music] managing service businesses
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particularly financial service companies both technology and process management.
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I've had a lot of defining moments throughout my career. First is being here on the faculty of Wharton was a
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real privilege and I'm just [music] thankful to be back. This is where I grew up as an academic. This is where I
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grew up as a leader and I was able to use those things I learned [music] when I took over at the Philly Fed. My work
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at Penn Washington is to try to bring the expertise not just of the Wharton School but the Penn faculty overall to
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the table to influence policy on [music] a regular basis. There are many challenges we face and the academic
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work, the leadership that we have here at Penn can really contribute to forming policies, practical, implementable
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policies [music] that make sense. What I'm most excited about coming back to
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Wharton is re-engaging with the academic life and being able to say some things I
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couldn't say when I was president of the Philly Fed, particularly around fiscal
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[music] policy, the issues we're facing, I think the serious issues we're facing
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as a country. We need to come up with practical solutions to solve what we're
00:01:38
[music] all facing together.

Episode Highlights

  • Pat Harker's Journey
    From Wharton to the Federal Reserve and back, Pat Harker shares his career path.
    “I've had a lot of defining moments throughout my career.”
    @ 00m 39s
    November 05, 2025
  • Re-engaging with Academic Life
    Harker expresses excitement about returning to Wharton and addressing fiscal policy.
    “What I'm most excited about coming back to Wharton is re-engaging with the academic life.”
    @ 01m 20s
    November 05, 2025

Episode Quotes

  • This is where I grew up as a leader.
    Meet Wharton's Newest Faculty: Patrick Harker
  • We need to come up with practical solutions.
    Meet Wharton's Newest Faculty: Patrick Harker

Key Moments

  • Career Overview00:02
  • Return to Wharton00:48
  • Fiscal Policy Discussion01:31