Mr. G. F. Robert Hanke

Mr. Hanke, an attorney and investment banker, is President and CEO of Polaris Arts Ltd., a New York and London based independent film and theater production company. He is also Executive Director of the New York Repertory Theater Company. Mr. Hanke and his wife, Lynn, co-produced Orlando, the British feature film distributed by Columbia/Sony Classics that received two Academy Award nominations. He is currently writing and producing film and stage projects, and recently co-produced Antartica at The Savoy Theatre in London, as well as the well-received documentary, Voltaire and Jefferson, narrated by Academy Award winning actor Cliff Robertson. Mr. Hanke was educated at Yale University (BA) and Georgetown University Law School (Juris Doctor), where he was Executive Editor of Georgetown’s international law journal, Law and Policy in International Business. He is a member of the Bar of the Court of Appeals of the Armed Forces and the Supreme Court of the United States.

Mr. Hanke served in the Marine Corps as a captain in Vietnam, logging 126 combat missions as both a fighter/attack pilot and a helicopter pilot. During the Cuban Crisis, as a Marine lieutenant, he flew over 50 missions as a fighter pilot, some off Navy aircraft carriers and others while assigned to the Air Defense Command of the U.S. Air Force. He was a NASA test pilot for Projects Gemini and Apollo, and is a former Top Gun of the 2nd Marine Air Wing. His decorations include the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Legion of Merit, the Navy and Marine Corps Medal, the Air Medal with Silver Star and Combat V, and the Cross of Gallantry. He served as a regular and reserve Marine Corps officer for over 22 years, retiring as a Colonel in 1984.

Following his years of active service, he worked for former President Ford as a staff member in Congress, then went on to a career on Wall Street as a financial analyst and investment banker with Scudder, Stevens & Clark. Later he served for many years as Vice President and General Counsel of The Asia Society in New York. Colonel Hanke is a trustee of the Marine Corps University Foundation, a director of the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation, and is one of the three original Founders of the Marine Corps Heritage Center. He is a member of the National Association of Chiefs of Police, vice chairman of New York’s Finest Foundation and serves as an officer, director or trustee on a number of other business, scholastic, civic and foundation boards.

Mr. Hanke was born in London, England, the son of a Wing Commander in the Royal Air Force, and is a naturalized American citizen. He is a full-certified alpine ski instructor, has a black belt in Shoto-Kan karate, and is the senior warden of his Episcopal church. He also enjoys tennis, reading, international affairs, and landscape gardening. He lives with his wife and their three children in New York City.