Real Estate Entrepreneur Bill Poland Chairs Buck Institute Board of Trustees

Prominent San Francisco commercial real estate developer Bill R. Poland is the new Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging. His appointment was effective January 1st.  Poland, who lives in Ross, is founder and President of Bay West Group, which is focused on creating value by developing urban infill and adaptive reuse projects.

Poland has served three terms on the Buck board. He and his wife, Mary Poland, are active donors who support Buck research aimed at ending the chronic diseases of aging. “I am extremely proud to be associated with accomplished scientists who bring extraordinary passion to their work,” said Poland. “I look forward to working with other board members and the executive team to expand our faculty and accelerate ‘bench to bedside’ efforts aimed at moving lab discoveries into the clinic.”

“My sincere ‘thank-you’ goes to Bill for taking on this new responsibility,” said Eric Verdin, MD, who became the Buck’s new President and Chief Executive Officer in November. “I am honored and excited to work with him as we move the Buck into its next phase of growth. Bill’s enthusiasm and commitment to the Buck motivate all of us to excel, and his business acumen will help keep us on track as we face opportunities and challenges in the year ahead.”

In addition to his service on the Buck board, Poland is a member of the Georgia Tech Presidents Advisory Board and the Urban Land Institute. He also serves on the board of the Steers Global Real Estate Center at Georgetown University. He is past chair of he San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau and past president of the Olympic Club, San Francisco. He also served as a councilmember for the town of Ross. Poland received a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech University and a Masters of Business Administration from Stanford University.

Additional appointments to the Buck board took effect on January 1st. Local real estate investor Darla Flanagan became Vice Chair; Edward Lanphier III, former CEO of the Buck Institute and Chairman of the Board of Directors for Sangamo BioScience, became Treasurer; and retired San Francisco lawyer John W. Larson was appointed Secretary.

About the Buck Institute for Research on Aging

The Buck Institute is the U.S.’s first independent research organization devoted to Geroscience – focused on the connection between normal aging and chronic disease. Based in Novato, California, the Buck is dedicated to extending “healthspan,” the healthy years of human life, and does so by utilizing a unique interdisciplinary approach involving laboratories studying the mechanisms of aging and others focused on specific diseases. Buck scientists strive to discover new ways of detecting, preventing and treating age-related diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, cancer, cardiovascular disease, macular degeneration, osteoporosis, diabetes and stroke. In their collaborative research, they are supported by the most recent developments in genomics, proteomics, bioinformatics and stem cell technologies. For more information: www.thebuck.org.