Chris Haase

Director, Critical Material Institute

Chris Haase is the Director of the Critical Materials Institute (CMI) at Ames Laboratory.  Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Manufacturing Office, CMI delivers better assurance to supply chains of materials critical to clean energy technologies – thereby enabling innovation in U.S. manufacturing and enhancing U.S. energy and national security. Haase is a recognized expert in upstream oil & gas, joint venture creation and implementation, and corporate venture capital, having worked for Royal Dutch / Shell and at four corporate venture capital organizations: Shell Technology Ventures Fund 1, BTG Ventures, Shell GameChanger and GE Ventures.  Prior to joining CMI, Haase was senior director of new business creation at GE Ventures and head business advisor to Shell’s Chief Technology Officer. A former US Department of Defense Fellow and adjunct professor at the United States Naval Academy, Haase received his Ph.D. and MS degrees in mathematics from the University of Chicago, his MBA from Erasmus University in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and his Bachelor of Science degree from Ohio State University.