Michael Leitch is the Senior Technical Lead for the $100-million XPRIZE Carbon Removal. In addition to leading the technical and scientific operations of the XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition, he is a member of XPRIZE’s Climate and Energy team, where he develops new programs and contributes to the organization’s thought leadership. With over a decade of experience in engineering and the trades, he has a keen interest in the commercialization of research and has spent most of his career leading collaborative research & development projects bridging industry and academia.

Mr. Leitch is a machinist and Mechanical Engineer, and earned a Masters in Engineering Management from the University of Alberta. A carbon-fiber enthusiast, outside of the office you can find him racing bicycles and high performance sailboats.