Robert W. Clark

Robert W. Clark, Executive Director

Mr. Robert W. Clark is currently the Executive Director for the Central Texas Public Safety Commission. From May 2023-July 2024, Mr. Clark served as the Vice President of Public Safety for the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Housing Authority, the 4th largest Housing Authority in the United States, serving over 84,000 residents. From 2021 to 2023, Mr. Clark served as the Director of Public Safety for the City of Columbus, Ohio, overseeing 5,000 Police, Firefighters, and Emergency Communications Personnel.

Mr. Clark has nearly 39 years of local, federal, and international law enforcement experience. In 1986, he began his police career after joining the Ohio Peace Officer Police Academy. Upon graduation, he served with the Austintown, Ohio Township Police Department and the Youngstown, Ohio Police Department.

In 1995, Mr. Clark’s experience led him to the U.S. Department of Justice, where he worked for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and served in Chicago, Illinois, Washington, DC, Central America, and Los Angeles, California. Mr. Clark served as Assistant Special Agent in Charge in Los Angeles, leading more than 350 agents and task force officers, focusing on gangs, violent crime, drug cartels, organized crime, and crimes against children. Mr. Clark’s achievements included building a first-of-its kind and the only virtual homicide library in the United States and directing “Operation Save our Streets (SOS)” to target gang-related homicides, cold cases, and violent crimes.

From 2010 to 2016, Operation SOS solved 650 cold case murders and violent crimes over six years. In 2017-2020, Mr. Clark served as the Senior Superintendent for the Trinidad & Tobago Police Service, the only United States Citizen to hold this position. In this position, he oversaw intelligence efforts and helped build an organizational infrastructure to upgrade the police service’s policies and strategies to combat murders, human trafficking, and violent crime and improve community-police relations. Mr. Clark is an avid believer in the power of faith, prayer, and community and has deep empathy for those victimized and impacted by crime.

In 1980, at the age of 13 years old, he lost his father to gun violence. This tragedy, and Mr. Clark’s vast local, national, and international law enforcement experiences have driven his desire to lead innovation, collaboration, and provide service to others. Additionally, Mr. Clark was featured on television shows, including the A&E Investigative Series Untold Stories, in which he re-investigated the Jon Benet-Ramsey murder, and as the Commander on the CBS Reality Show Hunted.

Mr. Clark received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in criminal justice and administration from Youngstown State University. He is currently a doctoral candidate in Cyberpsychology from Capitol Technology University, with a dissertation emphasis on mass shootings and the law enforcement response.