Leif Wellington Haase is Director of New America's California Program, which aims to improve the state's public debate by sponsoring a wide range of research, writing, and events on issues of critical importance to the future of California. His primary responsibilities include promoting the work of New America's programs and fellows in California, launching new policy initiatives in California, organizing high-profile public events throughout the state, and forging strategic partnerships with other California-based policy organizations.

Mr. Haase previously served as Senior Program Officer and Health Care Fellow at The Century Foundation, a public policy research organization based in New York City. His study on how to achieve universal health coverage in the United States, A New Deal for Health: How to Cover Everyone and Get Medical Costs under Control, was published by the foundation in 2005. He was the staff director of the foundation's Task Force on Medicare Reform and the co-author of its final report, Medicare Tomorrow (2001), and the author of Breathing Easier? The Report of The Century Foundation Working Group on Bioterrorism Preparedness (2005). In addition to his primary focus on health care, Mr. Haase has worked as a researcher and editor on such issues as campaign finance reform, gambling, Social Security, the federal budget, globalization, and higher education. He has appeared on ABC News, CNBC, and National Public Radio, and has written opinion pieces and commentaries for the Associated Press, UPI, The Boston Globe, and The American Prospect. Mr. Haase holds degrees from Yale University and Princeton University. Before joining The Century Foundation, he taught at Yale and at the Dalian University of Technology, People's Republic of China.