Edward Mallinckrodt, Jr. Foundation

William L. Polk, Jr. brings more than thirty years of executive leadership and capital markets experience, with a particular focus on the security industry.  Bill is an Advisory Partner at Egis Capital Partners, a private equity firm that invests in and helps lead companies protecting life, property, and information across commercial, residential, and government markets.  His work spans physical and information security, public safety and corrections, the national intelligence contracting community, and the broader protective security sector at the federal, state, and local levels.

Bill has served on the board of several private companies, including ClearObject, and AI-driven data analytics and managed services provider; WorldAware, a global leader in operational risk and incident management; and Stealth Monitoring, a video surveillance firm specializing in real-time threat detection and police response.

Before joining Egis Capital, Bill was Managing Director of Capital One’s Security, Defense, and Technology Finance practice, where he and his team provided financing to companies in both commercial and government security markets.  He previously served as Managing Director of the Security Lending Group at CapitalSource Finance (NYSE: CSE) and served on its Executive Committee.  Earlier in his career, he co-founded and served as President of SLP Capital, a specialty finance company focused on the security industry.  SLP was named to INC. magazine’s list of the 500 fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. for five consecutive years (1998-2002) prior to its sale to CapitalSource in 2004.  Bill is a frequent speaker at industry conferences on capital markets, strategy, and risk management.

In addition to his professional work, Bill serves as President of the Edward Mallinckrodt, Jr. Foundation and Chair of the Board of the Jefferson Scholars Foundation at the University of Virginia.  He is also a board member of the Danforth Plant Science Center and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, and serves on the Advisory Board of the Karsh Institute of Democracy at the University of Virginia, and the Executive Committee of the Chair’s Council at Greater Saint Louis, Inc.  Bill previously chaired the board of Mary Institute Country Day School in Saint Louis.

Bill holds a B.A. with honors in Religious Studies from the University of Virginia and an M.B.A. from Harvard University.

Theodore R. Samuels (Ted) currently serves on the boards of Centene Corporation, Iron Mountain Corporation, Research Corporation Technologies and Bristol Myers Squibb, where he is the Lead Independent Director.  Previously, Ted served on the boards of Perrigo Company, PLC and of Stamps.com.  Before joining corporate boards, Ted was an investor for 36 years at Capital Group Companies, where he was President of the Capital Guardian Trust division.  Ted was also on numerous investment and management committees while at Capital Group.

In addition to serving on the board of the Mallinckrodt Foundation, Ted is also on the board of BJC Healthcare System where he is on the Executive Committee and chairs the Finance and Strategic Planning Committee.  He is also on the Foundation of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Ted previously served on the boards of John Burroughs School in St. Louis and The Polytechnic School in Pasadena, CA.  For fifteen years, Ted was also on the fiduciary board of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, and he co-chaired the board for three years.  He has been co-chair of the Harvard College Parents’ Fund and the Tufts Parents’ College Fund,

Ted attended Harvard College where he majored in Economics, and he also attended Harvard Business School.

Julia J. Lilly (Julie) is the CEO of ArchBridge Family Office, a multi-family office working with 65 families across the country with assets totaling approximately $16 billion.  Julie is responsible for client service and satisfaction, finance, business development and strategic planning. Julie is a member of the Management, Risk Management, and Trust Committees.

Prior to joining ArchBridge Family Office, Julie spent over 20 years at Lewis Rice LLC, a leading regional law firm headquartered in St. Louis. After several years practicing law in the Trusts and Estates group, she spent the last 15 years leading the firm’s Operations team. As Chief Operating Officer, Julie had responsibility for human resources, finance, budgeting and billing, technology, facilities and marketing. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton University, cum laude, and a law degree from Washington University, where she graduated first in her class. Julie is winner of the 2023 Family Wealth Report Awards “Outstanding CEO” designation and a 2018 St. Louis Business Journal “Most Influential Business Women” honoree.

Away from work, Julie serves on the Boards of the St. Louis Regional Business Council, and the Missouri Botanical Garden, in addition to the Edward Mallinckrodt, Jr. Foundation. She also serves on the Boards of Auto Club Enterprises, located in Costa Mesa, California, and AAA, Inc.  She is the past Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Mary Institute Country Day School (MICDS), her alma mater.

Spencer B. Burke is Senior Counsel, Board member, and leader of the Family Business Advisory Practice at St. Louis Trust & Family Office, a multi-family office and trust company. SLTFO serves as the family office for 62 families located throughout the U.S. and oversees over $14 billion in investment assets.  He also serves as an Adjunct Lecturer in Family Business at the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis, the Family Business Executive in Residence at the Koch Center for Family Enterprise at Olin, and a Fellow of the Tugboat Institute.

Before joining SLTFO, Spencer was head of the investment banking operations at A.G. Edwards and Edward Jones, LLP, and was a partner in the corporate and securities law department of Bryan Cave LLP.  Spencer began his corporate law and finance career with Sullivan & Cromwell in New York City.  He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Economics and JD from the University of Pennsylvania.

Alan L. Schwartz is a pediatric physician-scientist. He received his MD, PhD (Pharmacology) from Case Western Reserve University. He then spent a decade at Harvard, Boston Children’s Hospital, Dana Farber Cancer Institute and MIT. He also spent years at the University of Helsinki, Finland and the University of Auckland, New Zealand. He joined Washington University School of Medicine in 1986 as Professor of Pediatrics and Pharmacology and Director of Hematology-Oncology. He then served as Chairman of the Department of Pediatrics for 21 years (1995-2016). He established a robust environment for the career development of young trainee physician-scientists. He supported and enhanced basic, translational, and clinical research across the Department of Pediatrics. In 1994 he founded the Markey Pathway in Human Pathobiology for graduate students of the DBBS and in 2007 he founded the Children’s Discovery Institue. Dr. Schwartz began studies of receptor biology in the late 1970’s and focused initially on the biology of receptor-mediated endocytosis and the cell biology of the asialoglycoprotein receptor. In the 1980’s he co-discovered and focused on the low-density lipoprotein receptor-like protein (LRP), an endocytosis and signaling receptor for over 40 ligands. At the same time, he began studies of the targeting and turnover of intracellular proteins via the ubiquitin-proteasome system. In addition, he has explored trophoblast biology and preterm birth. Dr. Schwartz has had robust extramural support since 1980 including numerous federal awards. In addition, he served as co-founder and Associate Director of the March of Dimes – Washington University Transdisciplinary Prematurity Research Center (2014-2020) ($20M) and chairs the Associate Directors of the Washington University Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center (U54) (2015 – 2025). He has over 275 scientific publications. He is a member of many organizations including ASCI, AAP, APS. He is a Fellow of AAAS and was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 1999. He has received an honorary Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Helsinki, Finland. Today he is the Alumni Endowed Professor of Pediatrics and Professor of Developmental Biology.

Timothy E. Holy received a B.A. in mathematics and physics (summa cum laude) from Rice University in 1991, a Ph.D. in physics from Princeton University in 1997, and postdoctoral training at Harvard University. He is the Alan A. and Edith L. Wolff Professor of Neuroscience at Washington University in St. Louis. His research areas include neuroscience, optics and microscopy, chemical biology, optimization, and machine learning. He is also one of the principal creators of the Julia programming language. His awards include the Pew Scholar Award, the McKnight Technological Innovation in Neuroscience Award, the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award, the Society for Neuroscience Research Award for Innovation in Neuroscience, and a Distinguished Alumnus Award from Rice University.

Deborah Lenschow is the John S. Daniels Professor of Immunology and a Professor of Internal Medicine, Molecular Microbiology, and Pathology & Immunology at Washington University in St. Louis. Dr. Lenschow obtained her B.A. in Biology from Wittenberg University.  She then graduated from the University of Chicago in 1998 obtaining both an MD and PhD in immunology.  Her PhD thesis work was performed in the laboratory of Dr. Jeffrey Bluestone where she studied the role of CD28/CTLA4/B7 co-stimulation pathways in T cell activation and autoimmunity. She then continued her training at Washington University in Internal Medicine followed by a Rheumatology fellowship and postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. Herbert “Skip” Virgin where she explored the innate immune response to viral infection with an emphasis on the type I interferon response.  In 2006 she joined the faculty of the Department of Medicine and the Division of Rheumatology where she continues to run her research group, sees patients on the Rheumatology clinical service, and also serves as the co-director of the Oliver Langenberg Physician Scientist Training Program for Internal Medicine.  Her research program continues to focus on the area of host-pathogen interactions with an emphasis on understanding the type I interferon response through the analysis of interferon subtypes and the functions of downstream interferon induced genes.   Recently, her research group has worked to understand the pathogenesis of the re-emerging alphavirus, Chikungunya virus.  Through the utilization of patient cohorts, clinical samples, and mouse models her lab is working to identify the immune factors that regulate disease pathogenesis and to identify novel therapeutic targets.

Dr. Lenschow was a 2008 Pew Scholar.  She is an elected member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation.  She was named the John S. Daniels Endowed Professor of Immunology in 2021.

Kerry Kornfeld was born and raised in St. Louis; he attended Ladue public schools and graduated from Ladue Horton Watkins High School in 1980. He was an undergraduate at Yale University, completing his BA in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry in 1984. He completed his MD and PhD degrees at Stanford Medical School in 1991 working in the Department of Biochemistry. His thesis research focused on cell fate specification during animal development. He conducted postdoctoral studies at Massachusetts Institute of Technology focusing on how signal transduction pathways mediate cell identity and cancer. He took a position as Assistant Professor at Washington University School of Medicine in 1995, and he is currently a Professor in the Department of Developmental Biology.

During his training and early faculty career, Dr. Kornfeld’s research focused on signaling pathways that establish cell fates during development. In the last 25 years, the Kornfeld lab has focused on the biology of aging and the homeostasis of essential metal nutrients such as zinc. His lab employs a wide range of techniques including model organism genetics using the nematode worm C. elegans, advanced imaging approaches, and biochemistry. Dr. Kornfeld has a passion for education, and he has been extensively involved with classroom instruction for undergraduate, graduate and medical students. He served as course master for the Developmental Biology class for 18 years, and as program director of the Developmental, Regenerative and Stem Cell Biology graduate program for 17 years. He has mentored 18 PhD students and 15 postdoctoral fellows in his lab, and many of these trainees now hold positions in academia and industry.

Dr. Kornfeld has been supported by numerous awards including the Medical Scientist Training Program (Stanford Medical School), Damon Runyon-Walter Winchell Cancer Research Fund postdoctoral fellowship award, Edward Mallinckrodt Jr. Foundation, Leukemia Society of America Special Fellow Award, Burroughs Welcome Fund New Investigator Award in the Basic Pharmacological Sciences, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Scholar Award, and Ellison Medical Foundation Senior Scholar Award. The Kornfeld lab has been continuously supported by NIH and NSF grants for more than 25 years. Dr. Kornfeld has organized international meetings including the Cell Biology of Metals Gordon Conference and FASEB Conference on Trace Elements in Biology and Medicine. He is a member of the National Institutes of Aging advisory committee for the C. elegans Intervention Testing Program and the advisory panel for the Life Sciences Research Foundation.

Rob Mitra is the Alvin Goldfarb Professor of Computational Biology at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.  Dr. Mitra received his BS, MS and PhD from MIT.  He trained with George Church where he did some of the earliest work developing 2nd generation sequencing technologies.  His lab in the Genetics Department and Center for Genome Sciences and Systems Biology has continued to focus on genomic technology development and has pioneered novel methods for the analysis of transcription factor binding, single molecule proteomics, single-cell genomics, and the capture of targeted genomic regions.  His lab is interested in understanding how transcription factors achieve their in vivo binding specificities, the impact of this binding on transcriptional output, and the role that transcription factors and chromatin modifiers play in neurodevelopment. Dr. Mitra played integral parts in the founding of the Center for Genome Sciences DNA Sequencing Innovation Lab, the Washington University Genomic Technology Access Center (GTAC@MGI), the Washington University Genomics and Pathology Services Lab (GPS@WU), and the Genome Engineering and iPSC Core (GEiC@MGI).

Rebecca Blankenship, (Becki), was born and raised in Southern Illinois and began her career with A. G. Edwards in the mid-80’s.  She advised both retail and institutional clients in the United States and abroad.  After two mergers and 25 years of service, she retired from Wells Fargo Advisors.  She worked closely with Oliver Langenberg, who was President of the Mallinckrodt Foundation for more than five decades.   Becki continues to work with the Mallinckrodt Foundation and has been serving the Foundation since 1987.