As Founder and CEO of The Cloud, George has helped guide the company to its current position of industry leadership. A pioneer in the industry, Polk recognised the boundless potential of seamless, wireless technologies and founded The Cloud in late 2002. Under his guidance the company has grown from a two-person start-up into the world leading WiFi network with blue chip clients and partners. [- More]
Prior to founding the Cloud, Polk was entrepreneur in residence at iGabriel, the London based early stage venture capital company, focusing on the feasibility of large scale wireless broadband networks.
Polk has extensive experience in the development and running of major enterprises in the wireless space. Prior to joining iGabriel, Polk was President, Latin America for Global Wireless Holdings, a holding company for wireless ventures in emerging markets backed by major international investors including Soros Fund Management LLC, with a focus on wireless messaging, e-commerce, and location-based security products. Previous to this he was Senior Vice President, International Networks at Geotek Communications, a NASDAQ-listed wireless telecommunications company, which invested 0 million developing a new cellular phone technology and building voice and data networks in the US and other countries.
As well as his experience in running major companies in the telecommunications space, Polk also has extensive experience founding and running entrepreneurial businesses. In the late 1980's and early 1990's Polk was instrumental in founding two start-up businesses. As Co-founder & Vice President, Corporate Development of Wave Systems Corporation, a NASDAQ-listed company created to commercialise a new secure electronic information distribution technology, Polk helped create a business that achieved a peak market capitalization of over billion. As founder and president of EP Systems Corporation, the developer and operator of a system to electronically monitor criminals placed under house arrest, Polk grew the business to its sale to Detection Systems, the largest US-based independent manufacturer of security products.
A graduate of Winchester College, UK and Harvard University, Polk also has a wide-ranging interest in International affairs. He is the founder of The Catalyst Group, a London-based organization which works to educate and mobilize significant international business leaders on major issues of public policy, focusing on the environment and humanitarian intervention. He was a Presidential Election Observer on the UN Mission to El Salvador in1994 and was a Term Member on The Council on Foreign Relations in New York as well as a Member of the Board of Governors of The Middle East Institute in Washington DC, a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London.
Polk holds a BA from Harvard University.
