Polk Bros. Foundation Controller Janet Ward to retire in June
After more than 11 years of dedicated service to Polk Bros. Foundation, Controller Janet Ward, CPA, will retire at the end of June 2025.
Since joining Polk Bros. Foundation as accounting manager in 2014, Janet has played a vital role in maintaining the Foundation’s financial health and integrity. Promoted to controller in 2018, she has been responsible for preparing monthly financial statements, updating investment schedules, and supporting year-end audits and tax filings. Beyond her day-to-day responsibilities, Janet has brought a thoughtful and values-driven lens to the Foundation’s internal work. During the Foundation’s recent work to refine its grantmaking strategies and processes, she helped examine how the Foundation’s policies and practices could better center those most impacted by systemic inequities — and how things could be done differently in the future.
“Janet has brought so much more than technical excellence to our team,” said Polk Bros. Foundation CEO Gillian Darlow. “She is deeply principled, kind and quietly powerful — someone who makes everything and everyone around her better. We are grateful for her wise stewardship, her care for this organization, and the grace with which she’s supported her colleagues and our mission over the years.”
Before joining Polk Bros. Foundation, Janet served as an accountant for WJ Weiser & Associates, managing finances for nonprofit medical associations and foundations. She also held roles in public accounting and internal audits. She earned her B.S. in Accountancy from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is a Certified Public Accountant.
Outside of work, Janet has contributed her time and talents as a member of the Illinois CPA Society and the Foundation Financial Officers Group, and as a dedicated volunteer with St. Raymond Backpack Ministry and Hands On Suburban Chicago/AmeriCorps Seniors Program.
“Working at Polk Bros. Foundation has been one of the great honors of my career,” Janet shared. “To be part of a team so committed to community, equity, and integrity — and to do work that matters in a city I care so deeply about — has been a gift.”
