Michael Locatis – Emeritus

As Senior Advisor for Chertoff Group, Michael Locatis brings expertise in national security including critical infrastructure protection and public safety, with specialization in food security. Areas of food security capability include:

  • Protecting our national and global food supply from foodborne pathogens through advanced intervention steps and the ability to demonstrate a log kill of listeria, E.coli, salmonella, norovirus, and other pathogens
  • Strategies and technologies for the rapid diagnostic and detection of food borne pathogens
  • Food and agriculture sustainability strategies in light of natural and manmade disruptions in global food supply
  • Reduction of carbon footprint and energy consumption related to food production
  • Mitigating cybersecurity vulnerabilities associated with the industrial control systems of food production facilities that put food safety and supply to U.S. and global consumers at risk
  • Closing hunger and nutrition deficit gap globally and in American urban and rural areas
  • Eliminating agricultural waste through the deployment of next-generation sterilization and pasteurization food preservation technologies
  • Improving military feeding programs
  • Development of responsive humanitarian and disaster relief food rations capabilities
  • Ensuring global food production and distribution keeps pace with a growing population
  • Farm-to-fork host nation readiness/gap assessment of agriculture, supply chain, infrastructure, distribution and regional nutrition needs in Africa and other nations with food security challenges
  • Identifying fragile food supply chains (e.g. Middle East) and developing risk mitigation strategies
  • Preventing radicalization recruitment of food insecure individuals.

As co-founder and CEO of 915 Labs, Mr. Locatis led the commercialization of a breakthrough food security and processing technology originally developed by the U.S. Army and the U.S.D.A. A veteran entrepreneur, Mike founded and led several high-tech start-ups, built high-performance teams and led companies through successful venture capital rounds, M&A and IPO.

In the public sector, Mr. Locatis has served multiple appointed positions. He served two successive roles for the Obama administration, most recently Assistant Secretary U.S. Department of Homeland Security responsible for national critical infrastructure protection and earlier as Chief Information Officer of the U.S. Department of Energy. As a member of the White House Interagency Policy Committee, Mr. Locatis helped craft policy and developed strategies to secure the nations critical infrastructures under Presidential Policy Directive (PPD)-21, “Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience.” Food and Agriculture is one of the 16 critical infrastructure security sectors identified by the President.

An outspoken advocate for food security and sustainability, Mr. Locatis serves as a member of the board of directors for Hunger Free Colorado, a statewide nonprofit that connects individuals and families to food resources and drives change through policies and social works to ensure that no Coloradoan goes without food.

Mr. Locatis is also current board member of the Colorado Technology Association. He previously served in the following board and council positions: Federal CIO Council – Executive Committee, President Obamas Domestic Policy Council Strong Cities Strong Communities (SC2) Tiger Team, Presidents Management Advisory Board (PMAB), National Association for State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) executive committee, Colorado Regional Health Information Organization (CORHIO) board, Colorado Health Information Technology Advisory Committee Chair, Silicon Flatirons Board, Harvard Kennedy School of Government (Leadership for a Networked World Think Tank) and Colorado Statewide Internet Portal Authority (SIPA) Board.

Expertise:

  • Global food security
  • Food and agriculture sector critical infrastructure protection
  • Corporate strategy management
  • Market positioning, business development and sales traction acceleration strategies
  • Advanced technology commercialization
  • Public/private partnerships
  • Private equity, venture capital funding and merger acquisition strategies
  • Food production/safety technology and process reference architecture

Experience:

  • Most recently led the successful commercialization of breakthrough food security & processing technology originally developed by the U.S. Army and U.S.D.A.
  • Assistant Secretary Department of Homeland Security for Critical Infrastructure Protection
  • Chief Information Officer, U.S. Department of Energy

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