William Santana Li

William Santana Li Profile Photo

Founder, Chairman and CEO

William Santana Li is the Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of Knightscope, Inc. (NASDAQ: KSCP), a role he has held for 13 years. He also architected the Autonomous Security Force model, which integrates autonomous machines, software, and human agents into a single, accountable security service.

An American entrepreneur with more than 30 years of experience across the global automotive sector and in startups, Li spent the early part of his career at Ford Motor Company, where he held senior roles on four continents. He later founded GreenLeaf LLC and Carbon Motors Corporation before founding Knightscope.

Li holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and an MBA from the University of Detroit Mercy.

Oct. 28, 2026

Building an Autonomous Security Force - NightScope CEO William Santana Li

Thomas Braun talks with William “Bill” Santana Li, Chairman and CEO of Knightscope (NASDAQ: KSCP), on The Executive Suite. Knightscope combines robots, software and human agents into what Bill calls the nation’s first autonomous security force. Bill walks through the K5 and K7 autonomous security robots, smart wearables for human agents, and Signals, a live 3D digital twin that lets analysts monitor a site remotely. He describes how a seven-step escalation model cuts false alarms, which he says...