CTrees is pleased to announce the appointment of Stephen Hagen, Ph.D., as its first chief operating officer. Hagen joined CTrees last fall as head of nature-based solutions and lead scientist for the DeVine project, a joint partnership with Conservation International and CTrees to monitor management of lianas, vines in tropical forests that inhibit regrowth of forests. As COO, Hagen will manage CTrees’ data and research initiatives for monitoring, reporting, and verification of natural climate solutions.

Hagen brings more than 20 years of experience in remote sensing science and applied data solutions for forests and ecosystems. Most recently, he served as chief research officer at Regrow Ag, a science and technology company that helps companies in the agricultural sector to reduce emissions and adapt to climate change.

Sassan Saatchi, Ph.D., co-founder and CEO of CTrees said: "Steve brings a wealth of experience and expertise to this new role at CTrees. Having collaborated closely with Steve over the past 15 years on various NASA-funded projects, I can attest to his exceptional work ethic and profound understanding of environmental sciences. Steve will make invaluable contributions to CTrees' mission of pioneering innovative solutions for climate change mitigation and environmental stewardship."

Hagen earned a Ph.D. in earth and environmental sciences from the University of New Hampshire in 2006. Hagen’s scientific research has focused on building machine learning and remote sensing-based tools to map and understand the effects of land management and conservation.

Hagen has extensive experience in technology development and executive leadership in the private sector. Hagen previously served as director of measurement and modeling at Applied GeoSolutions (AGS), a science company offering data solutions to governments, businesses, and NGOs to monitor agriculture, forests, water quality, and land use change. At AGS, Hagen spearheaded remote sensing research focused on precision agriculture. Hagen later played a pivotal role in the establishment and development of Dagan, a soil health and ecosystem services company, where Hagen served as senior scientist and COO.

Hagen said: “I am thrilled to be joining CTrees at this pivotal moment for the organization and for global efforts to reduce deforestation and increase restoration of ecosystems worldwide. Accurate data underpins initiatives by governments and organizations to implement natural climate solutions – but too many actors lack the data resources to properly measure and verify their progress. CTrees is offering truly groundbreaking data solutions, and I’m happy to be working with this talented team to bring CTrees’ science-based data to the policy and market communities.”

Photo by David Ramsay

Launched in 2022, CTrees is a nonprofit organization in Pasadena that tracks carbon in every tree on the planet, and provides data to governments, businesses, and organizations seeking to protect and restore forests and other ecosystems on land. CTrees’ data products include the first global and historical land carbon map for forest and non-forest ecosystems, pantropic activity data measuring degradation and deforestation, and Land Use Change Alerts (LUCA), the first radar-based disturbance alert system to cover all global forest biomes. CTrees partners with governments, nonprofits, and leading players in policy and carbon markets to bring high-quality scientific data products to measure and verify implementation of natural climate solutions globally. The organization is a recipient of the 2023 AWS IMAGINE grant for nonprofits.