Chris Hagerbaumer is executive director at OpenAQ–the world’s first and largest open-source, open-access database of ground-level, outdoor air quality data. Chris provides strategic leadership, runs operations, manages OpenAQ’s mighty team, and cultivates collaborative relationships in pursuit of a core human right: the right to breathe clean air.

Chris joined OpenAQ in 2022 with 23 years of experience in policy advocacy–focused on transportation, climate and air quality–at Oregon Environmental Council, a state-level environmental nonprofit in the U.S. This included 10 years as deputy director of the organization. Chris has also worked as a policy and organizational consultant, including special projects for MobilityData, an organization that improves and extends international data formats for transportation alternatives; worked for a judicial reform organization; and served as a U.S. Peace Corp Volunteer in the Republic of Palau, where she developed Palau’s first environmental education handbook and established a recycling program.

Chris holds an M.P.P. in Public Policy from the University of Chicago, a B.A. in German Literature from Reed College, and attended Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München as a junior in college.