Chris Mustain

Chris Mustain is a Vice President at the Council on Competitiveness, a premier alliance of CEOs, university presidents and labor leaders committed to US prosperity.  Chris is engaged principally on the Technology Leadership and Strategy Initiative. The TLSI convenes national leaders with an aim to commercialize technology more effectively, harness innovation to tackle America’s great challenges, and improve partnerships between firms, universities, and national labs. Chris also assists on Council initiatives to invigorate manufacturing, leverage high-performance computing, and improve economic policy through better metrics analysis and development.

Chris brings 20 years of public policy experience to the Council, including his service on the core team that produced the Council’s path breaking Innovate America report of the National Innovation Initiative.  Chris was instrumental in working with Congress to enact NII recommendations into law. Prior to assuming his position with the Council, Chris ran an independent government relations firm, Innovation Advocates, which offered advice and analysis on science and technology policy. For nine years, Chris was a Governmental Programs Executive at IBM, serving as the corporation's lead U.S. executive for innovation policy and leading efforts on education, privacy, and other business technology issues.

In the 1990s, Chris managed an international trade association, the European-American Business Council, and served as a legislative analyst in the White House Office of Management and Budget. He is well versed in global trade, tax, investment, and budgetary policy that impact US competitiveness. He’s been featured on National Public Radio's Marketplace and written for Presidents, Cabinet Secretaries, CEOs and Members of Congress.

Chris earned a Master’s degree with honors from Georgetown University in International Business-Government Relations. He was a summer fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research and selected for the prestigious European Union Visitors Program. He earned a Bachelor’s degree from Heidelberg University in Ohio, completing majors in Political Science, Economics, and German.

A native of the Cleveland, Ohio, area, Chris resides in Fairfax, Virginia, with his wife and two daughters where he coaches youth soccer.