Matthew Polega

Co-Founder, President, Managing Director UK and Head of Marketing, Communications & Enablement Mark43

Last Reviewed: September 26, 2026

Executive Summary

Matthew (Matt) Polega co-founded Mark43, the public safety software company, in 2012 with Harvard classmates Scott Crouch and Florian Mayr. More than a decade later he is still there, now as President and head of marketing, communications and enablement. Mark43 sells cloud records management, computer-aided dispatch and related software to police and other public safety agencies. In July 2025 it appointed Polega Managing Director UK, and he moved to Britain to run its operations with UK police forces. The appointment is a founder taking charge of a new market himself rather than handing it to a regional hire.

Career Highlights

• Co-founded Mark43 in 2012 with Scott Crouch and Florian Mayr, while all three were Harvard undergraduates.
• Listed as an executive officer and director in Mark43’s first SEC Form D (2013), and as President, Treasurer and Secretary in its 2024 Form D.
• Led delivery for Cumbria Constabulary, Mark43’s first UK customer.
• Appointed Managing Director UK in July 2025 and relocated to the UK. He continues as Co-Founder, President, and Head of Marketing, Communications and Enablement.

Professional Journey

Mark43 began as a university project. In 2012 Polega, Scott Crouch and Florian Mayr were juniors at Harvard. Crouch’s work on a class project with Massachusetts police, using data to fight gang-related crime, turned into a company, first called Nucleik. The founders learned the job they were building for by riding along with officers in Southeast Washington, D.C. According to the company, Mark43’s first customer was the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington. By October 2013, the Harvard Gazette reported, the company had a pilot in Los Angeles County and nearly $2 million in funding.

The company’s first SEC Form D, filed in September 2013 from Allston, Massachusetts, names Polega as an executive officer and director alongside Crouch. Mark43 later settled in New York. By 2018 it had about 150 employees and had raised a $38 million Series C, with investors including Jeff Bezos and Ashton Kutcher. In interviews that year Polega spoke for the company on its field research and its hiring of military veterans, advice he credited to General (Ret.) David Petraeus.

As Mark43 grew, the founders moved into different roles. Its current leadership page names Bob Hughes as Chief Executive Officer and Crouch as Co-Founder and Chairman. Polega is President and runs marketing, communications and enablement. The company’s May 2024 Form D, for a round in which it had sold $40 million, lists him as President, Treasurer and Secretary.

The UK is his newest remit. Mark43 won Cumbria Constabulary as its first UK customer, and Polega led that delivery. In July 2025 the company named him Managing Director UK and announced that he was relocating to lead operations there. “Thirteen years ago, we founded Mark43 to fundamentally transform public safety operations through modern technology,” he said. “Expanding that mission to the UK is a personal and professional milestone.”

Education

He attended Harvard University, where he and his co-founders were juniors when they started Mark43 in 2012. No source read states his degree, concentration or graduation year.