A 20-year veteran at Mars, Harold Schmitz has been chief science officer since 2005. His responsibilities include strategy development, program alignment and quality control of the company’s multidisciplinary scientific research programs. He has previously held various positions within Mars in scientific and regulatory affairs, fundamental research, analytical and applied sciences and corporate functions.

Before joining Mars, Schmitz was a USDA National Needs Research Fellow at North Carolina State University’s Department of Food Science. Schmitz has a keen interest in enhancing the contributions that science can make to society, and is active in the Executive Committee of the Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable (GUIRR) at The National Academies. Schmitz received his Ph.D. in food science with a minor in organic chemistry from North Carolina State University, and his M.S. in food science from the University of Illinois.