Craig S. Leasure, Ph.D.

Vice President for National Laboratories

Craig Leasure joined the University of California Office of the President (UCOP) in November 2018 as the Associate Vice President for National Laboratories (AVPNL) and was appointed as the Vice President for National Laboratories, effective October 1, 2019.

Craig interfaces with executive level managers at the three UC-affiliated National Laboratories, the LLC partners, the Department of Energy (DOE), and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to provide management oversight and establish strategic plans, objectives, policies, and processes related to Programs and Operations at LBNL, LANL and LLNL. He represents the University as well as LBNL, and the LLCs to the leadership of the DOE and the NNSA on lab business, operations, programmatic, and science and technology activities, and also represents the University in organization-wide and system-wide meetings and discussions. He also provides leadership and collaboration with UCNL staff and directly supervises three Executive Directors and the Chief of Staff and Director of National Lab Governance, providing advice and counsel, training, mentoring as well as performance evaluations.

Craig began his career with Lockheed Engineering and Sciences Company, NASA White Sands Test Facility, his last two years there as the Department Manager of the Laboratory Test Department. His department conducted scientific, engineering and test operations at two major facilities for hazardous testing, including explosives, rocket fuels and oxidizers, high-pressure gaseous hydrogen and oxygen testing, and liquid hydrogen and oxygen testing.

At Los Alamos National Laboratory, he served in increasingly responsible line and program management capacities starting as a Group Leader then Program Manager, Office Director, acting Program Director, and Deputy Associate Director in both operations and in weapons programs, five years as the Deputy Principal Associate Director for Weapons Programs with the last 20 months as the acting Principal Associated Director for Weapons Programs running the nuclear weapons program at Los Alamos. Finally, finishing his career at Los Alamos as the Principal Associate Director for Operations and Business.

Craig has a BS degree in Chemistry from Florida State University, an MS degree in Chemistry from Eastern New Mexico University, and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from New Mexico State University. He has written or co-written more than 10 scientific papers and holds one patent for an improved ion mobility spectrometer (IMS). The IMS detects picogram quantities of chemicals, including rocket propellants, explosives, and gases. Craig has received multiple awards from the NNSA and has received the Silver Snoopy award from the NASA Astronaut Corps.

(Current as of September 2019)