GARY L. POLK
Co-Founder and CEO
Polk Institute Foundation
In 2016, Gary Polk became the founder and first executive director of the Innovation Incubator at Cal State University Dominquez Hills. He created a business incubator that not only helped the students, but also entrepreneurs throughout the Los Angeles region.
In 2017, Polk created a new course at CSUDH called Entrepreneurship for Everyone. For the next three years, he taught almost 200 students. In 2019, after a successful three and one-half years as ED, Polk resigned and returned to his true passion, teaching full-time. Then, in March 2020, everything seemed to change for the worse with the pandemic. In July 2020, Polk decided to finish the job that was started with the Innovation Incubator, by creating the Polk Institute Foundation. Here, social entrepreneurship companies are endeavors that are purpose-driven. They focus on “People, Planet and Profit” (the “Triple Bottom Line”) and the belief that behaving ethically and generating profits are not conflicting concepts.
