The University of California Board of Regents appointed Craig Leasure today as the next vice president of the UC's Office of the National Laboratories following a nationwide search.
Leasure has been serving in the position on an interim basis since February.
A longtime UC leader with experience in directing and operating large-scale national labs and weapons programs, Leasure will be responsible for oversight of the UC’s three nationally affiliated laboratories: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
He will start his new role on Oct. 1 and receive an annual base salary of $384,500.
The position was previously held by Kim Budil, who was appointed as Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s new principal associate director for Weapons & Complex Integration earlier this year.
Leasure spent nearly three decades in a variety of positions at Los Alamos National Laboratory, including leading its national weapons program. Later, Leasure served as UC’s associate vice president for national labs.
Throughout his more than 30-year career, he has worked with Department of Energy laboratories, overseeing a broad range of functions, ranging from running nuclear weapons programs to making significant improvements in lab communications, safety and operations.
Leasure will coordinate with the UC Board of Regents and the UC Office of the President to manage UC’s cutting-edge research in science, technology and engineering, while supporting the business operations, compliance and stewardship of the three laboratories, according to the UC Office of the President. In addition to strengthening key relationships between the UC labs and state and federal government, Leasure will be in charge of ensuring that the UC provides an environment of intellectual integrity at the labs.
“UC’s laboratories play a vital role in science and national security, among other areas, and thankfully we did not have to look far to find an exemplary candidate to lead the university’s efforts,” UC President Janet Napolitano, who announced her resignation plans Wednesday at the UC Regents meeting at UCLA, said in a statement.
“I have no doubt that Dr. Leasure is by far the best person to spearhead our continued collaboration with the federal government on nuclear security as well as the university’s research to address energy, environmental, infrastructure and health issues.”
Prior to UC, Leasure worked for Lockheed Engineering and Sciences Company at NASA’s White Sands Test Facility, and he spent his last two years with Lockheed as the department manager of the Laboratory Test Department. He oversaw the department’s work in scientific, engineering and test operations at two major facilities, including hazardous testing for explosives, rocket fuels and oxidizers, high-pressure gaseous hydrogen and oxygen, and liquid hydrogen and oxygen.
Leasure received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Florida State University, his master’s degree in chemistry from Eastern New Mexico University, and his doctorate in analytical chemistry from New Mexico State University. He has written or co-written more than 20 scientific papers, and holds one patent for an improved ion mobility spectrometer.
