Harold is a Senior Scholar in the Graduate School of Management at the University of California, Davis. Harold recently retired as Chief Science Officer for Mars, Incorporated and Director of the Mars Advanced Research Institute following 25 years with the company. During his career in Mars, Harold held positions within the company in Scientific and Regulatory Affairs, Fundamental Research, Analytical and Applied Sciences, Corporate Innovation and Corporate Staff. Prior to joining Mars in 1993, he was a U.S. Department of Agriculture National Needs Research Fellow at North Carolina State University’s Department of Food Science. He received his Master of Science degree in Food Science from the University of Illinois and his Doctoral degree in Food Science, with a minor in organic chemistry, from North Carolina State University. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Arkansas in 1987, and in 2011 was honored as Outstanding Alumnus of the Dale Bumpers College of Agriculture, Food and Life Sciences. During 2014 – 17, Harold served as the Art and Carlyse Ciocca Visiting Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Graduate School of Management at UC Davis.
Harold has authored and co-authored many peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, given numerous invited presentations, organized and/or chaired scientific meetings and is a co-inventor on several granted patents, with emphasis on exploring the relationship between vascular biology and dietary constituents, and generally the metabolism and function of dietary components in modulating human health. His focus on multi-disciplinary and multi-sectoral collaborations formed the basis of his interactions with the Executive Committee of the National Academy of Sciences Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable during 2003 – 2013, and he was an active member of the National Research Advisory Board at Washington University in St Louis during 2007 – 15. Harold has led the Mars partnership in the annual meetings of the Lindau Nobel Foundation since 2007, and since 2017 with the Heidelberg Laureate Foundation associated with the Turing Award, Abel and Nevanlinna Prizes, and Fields Medal.
In 2018, Harold was elected as a lifetime member in the Council on Foreign Relations, reflecting his current focus on food, health and agriculture and the urgent need for collaboration and innovation to improve global health and environmental sustainability.