Rich Hasslacher is the Chief Commercial Officer at Graphyte, Inc., a durable carbon removal company scaling Carbon Casting, a process that converts agricultural waste biomass into encapsulated carbon blocks for durable underground sequestration.
At Graphyte, Rich leads commercial strategy across offtake, partnerships, and marketing. His current focus includes partnering with the corn ethanol industry to apply Graphyte’s technology to corn stover and other crop residues, embedding durable carbon removal directly inside the fuel pathway. Once recognized under the 45ZCF-GREET model, this insetting approach can reduce the lifecycle carbon intensity of ethanol, unlocking higher 45Z credit value for ethanol producers and creating new revenue sharing opportunities for American farmers.
Rich brings more than eighteen years of commercial leadership at category-defining companies. He previously served as Global Head of Alliances and Channels at OpenAI, where he built the company’s partner-led commercial organization from inception, and as Vice President of Global Alliances and Channels at Slack through its acquisition by Salesforce. Earlier roles at Salesforce spanned EMEA and the United States.
Rich holds a BA (Hons) in Commerce from Napier University, Edinburgh, with executive education from UC Berkeley and the Chartered Institute of Marketing. He serves on the board of Western Rivers Conservancy.