Edward Mallinckrodt, Jr. Foundation

William L. Polk has over 30 years of executive leadership and capital markets experience with a particular focus on the security industry.  Since 2013 Mr. Polk has been a partner of Egis Capital Partners, a private equity firm that provides financing and board leadership to companies protecting life, property, and information and serving the commercial, residential, and government security markets.  Areas of Polk’s focus include physical security products and services, information security, public safety and corrections, the national intelligence contracting community, and the federal, state, and local protection security marketplace.  He is serving or has served on the board of directors of a number of private companies including ClearObject, an AI-focused data analytics and managed services provider, WorldAware, Inc., a global provider of operational risk and incident management services, and Stealth Monitoring, a video services company providing real time threat detection and police response.

Prior to joining Egis Capital, Mr. Polk served as Managing Director of the Security, Defense, and Technology Finance practice at Capital One where he and his team provided financing to public and private companies in the commercial and government security sectors.   Prior to Capital One, Polk led CapitalSource Finance’s (NYC:CSE) Security Lending Group and served on CapitalSource’s Executive Committee.   Before CapitalSource, Mr. Polk was a co-founder and President of SLP Capital, a specialty finance company focused on the security industry which was acquired by CapitalSource in 2004.  SLP Capital was named to the INC 500, Inc. magazine’s list of the five hundred fastest growing private companies in the United States, for five consecutive years from 1998 to 2002.  Mr. Polk is a frequent speaker at industry events and conferences on the subjects of the capital markets, strategic planning, and risk management.

In addition to his professional activities, Mr. Polk currently serves as President of the Edward Mallinckrodt Foundation, as Chair of the Board of the Jefferson Scholars Foundation, and as a Board Member of the Danforth Plant Science Center.  Mr. Polk also currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Chair’s Council of Greater St. Louis Inc and the Board of Managers of the UVA Alumni Association.  He formerly served as Board Chair of Mary Institute Country Day School.  He holds a B.A. with honors in religious studies from the University of Virginia and an MBA from Harvard University.

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