OpenAQ welcomes Chris Hagerbaumer, our new Executive Director!

We are thrilled to welcome Chris Hagerbaumer to the OpenAQ team. As our executive director, she will provide strategic leadership, run operations, manage OpenAQ’s mighty team, and cultivate collaborative relationships in support of OpenAQ’s mission to fight air inequality.

Chris comes to OpenAQ with 26 years of experience in the nonprofit sector, where she honed her skills as a public policy advocate and senior nonprofit leader. Chris advanced solutions to environmental challenges in two roles at Oregon Environmental Council. She led the organization’s air quality, climate, and transportation work for 10 years, then served as Deputy Director, leading strategic planning and program execution, providing administrative and fundraising support, facilitating an exceptional work environment, and assisting her staff in promoting equitable policy solutions at the intersection of human health and the environment.

Most recently, Chris was Principal of Baumer Strategies where she helped clients develop and advance public policy and organizational goals. And she learned the value of open data in a special projects role with MobilityData, a nonprofit that works internationally to ensure data quality and consistency to help travelers find, understand, and use transportation options everywhere they go.

Chris served as a U.S. Peace Corp Volunteer in the Republic of Palau and has traveled on five continents. She earned her master’s in Public Policy from the University of Chicago and her bachelor’s in German Literature from Reed College.

“I can’t wait to meet members of the OpenAQ community,” says Chris. “I’m delighted to bring my nonprofit management skills, environmental expertise, and enthusiasm for an open data ecosystem to OpenAQ as we pursue a core human right: the right to breathe clean air.”

See Chris’ LinkedIn profile here