Chris Leahy has more than three decades of experience leading government affairs and corporate affairs at the highest levels of business. He has advised companies across the energy, technology, financial services, life sciences, industrial, and transportation sectors on federal regulation, legislation, and policy. As Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Intuit, the financial technology company, Chris built the function and led a global team of more than 30 across four regions for platforms serving over 100 million users. As Vice President of Government Affairs at life sciences company Bayer, Chris led advocacy across its Pharmaceuticals, Consumer Health, and Crop Science divisions. He steered the $66 billion Monsanto acquisition, the largest all-cash deal in U.S. history at closing, through U.S. antitrust and national security review. Earlier, as Vice President of Government Affairs at Peabody Energy, a Fortune 500 energy company, Chris led federal strategy and secured $3.4 billion in carbon capture and storage incentives in the American Recovery Act. Chris also served as Senior Government Affairs Counsel at Volkswagen Group, where he worked on regulatory and commercial issues, including mobility technology, environmental, and trade policy.
Chris served on Capitol Hill as Majority Policy Coordinator and Senior Counsel for the House Energy and Commerce Committee, advising Members under Chairman Joe Barton (R-TX) and Subcommittee Chairman Cliff Stearns (R-FL) on energy, technology, auto, trade, and consumer protection policy across the FTC, Departments of Commerce and Transportation, USTR, and NHTSA. He helped author comprehensive federal data security and privacy legislation, conducted oversight hearings on college and professional sports, passed Electronic Stability Control legislation that NHTSA estimates saves 5,000 to 9,000 lives annually, and helped found the Congressional Cystic Fibrosis Caucus.
Chris holds a JD from American University’s Washington College of Law and a BA from the University of Pennsylvania, where he competed on the Division I track and field team. He is a member of the DC and Virginia bars, serves on the Meridian International Center Corporate Council, the boards of the Congressional Award and the Washington Ireland Program, and is a longtime supporter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.