Professional Experience
Chris Hasbrook joins Polaris from Underwriters Laboratories (UL) where he most recently held the position of Vice President and General Manager of UL’s Built Environment Customer Operating Unit. This business unit houses UL’s core and original business of Fire Safety & Security, which is now encompassed in UL’s Building Science/Built Environment offerings. Chris was responsible for the Unit’s 275-million-dollar revenue-generating profit and loss business. He managed 12 testing laboratory locations, 2 software development sites, and more than 900 employees worldwide.
Prior to joining UL, Chris was the Senior Director of Client Services at Inforte Corporation where he was responsible for selling and delivering customer relationship management process redesign and technology consulting services. The industries Chris served include consumer products, media, distribution, automotive, and financial services. He also led organizational change and corporate strategy activities, including the company’s 2000 successful Initial Public Offering on the NASDAQ Stock Market.
During his tenure as the Product Marketing Manager at PeopleSoft Inc., Chris served as part of the PeopleSoft Corporate Strategy Team where he developed and executed the company’s global retail and distribution industry strategic plans, retail industry marketing plans, and advised PeopleSoft customers on their software application operational strategies. As a member of the PeopleSoft Product Strategy Group, Chris helped to set direction for technical development and functionality requirements for the long-term PeopleSoft Product Roadmap.
Chris has also served as a Management Consulting Manager for the Deloitte & Touche Consulting Group and Software Consulting Manager for Andersen Consulting (Accenture). At both companies he led client engagements to identify opportunities for process improvement and managed large-scale process improvement projects. Chris’s notable accomplishments include managing a team on assignment in France that designed and developed a data transfer software solution for an Accenture proprietary manufacturing software application that was delivered to European automotive manufactures. He also designed, developed, and delivered process manufacturing software application functionality for an innovative overseas project that set the standard for what is now considered offshore business process and software development services.
Chris is the co-inventor of a digital algorithm that predicts fire loss in building structures, informing owners and insurers of risks.
Education and Training
Chris earned a Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in finance from the University of Notre Dame and a Master of Business Administration in International Business from DePaul University. He also earned an Executive Degree from Yale University’s UL Executive Leadership Program and completed the Artificial Intelligence: Implications for Business Strategy course at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Committees and Professional Organizations
Chris is a co-founder of both the UL Firefighter Safety Research Institute and the Chicago Fire Department Foundation. He is the Chairman of the Hagel Advisory Council for the Chicago Project on Security and Threats (CPOST) at the University of Chicago. Chris is a Board Member for the Notre Dame Deloitte Center for Ethnical Leadership and CHRP Technologies, which is a privately held artificial intelligence-based property insurance loss prevention startup company. Chris is a Member of the Economic Club of Chicago and remains an advisor to Underwriters Laboratories Inc.’s leadership.
Awards and Accomplishments
Chris received Honorary Fire Chief designation from the Chicago Fire Department and an Honorary Battalion Chief designation from the Fire Department of New York (FDNY).