Who We Are

Craig Daniel Leon

Founder

Craig Daniel, selected as a Harvard Climate Circle Entrepreneur 2023, is passionate about cloud forest restoration. He is committed to finding all ways possible to make this happen. This all started in 2012, when Craig acquired a 170 acre degraded cattle farm bordering the Cayambe Coca National Park in Ecuador. That's when he began to envision its transformation back into forest. He applies his audiovisual skills developed from his film company Future History Films to document the advances of this innovative cloud forest recovery with the dream of replicating this gained knowledge. He is permanently seeking new partnerships, funding sources, and takes a leadership role in transforming pasture back to primary forest, most recently conceptualizing the Crystal Frog as the first cloud forest recovery and discovery center. Craig graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University, awarded the Pyne Prize as outstanding undergraduate. He is a Fulbright Scholar and has an MBA in Agribusiness from Harvard Business School. Craig was co-founder of Andean Organics, Ecuador’s first certified organic venture back in the 1990s. Today, he is all in for saving cloud forests as a biome.

Vicente Torres

Lead Agronomist

Vicente Torres, who worked with Craig back at Andean Organics as chief agronomist, is the Cloud Forest Organics lead the agronomist and agroforester. He is the field leader, both in the field and at the food lab. Trained in biodynamic agriculture at the Kraayberkerhof Institute in Holland, Vicente has successfully managed forest and organic restoration in the coast and highlands of Ecuador. His Afro-Ecuadorian heritage contributes to his diverse perspective. A true adventurer, Vicente has taken leadership in food experimentation and field management, while his keen sense of aesthetics provides support to the civil engineering team building of the Crystal Frog.

Dario Morales

Geographical Engineer

Darío Morales, a geographical engineer specialized in territorial planning from the Catholic University of Quito with numerous courses in wildlife tracking, brings ample experience in mapping, and satellite and drone use to lead our spatial understanding of cloud forest recovery from a scientific perspective. He manages our field camera program, organizes our field data, and generates and analyses the maps to help us see our progress and future challenges. Within our small team, Darío is a jack of all trades, showing both technical and aesthetic prowess in everything from trail design to bioacoustics and video/photographic management.

Andrea Maldonado

Food Technology Chemist

Andrea Maldonado, a trained chemist with a B. Sc. in Chemistry from the Yachay University of Experimental Technological Research, has applied her knowledge in synthesis of organic products, chemical analysis and elucidation chemistry among other specialities at Cloud Forest Organics. She has assisted us with water sampling, creation and analysis of flours and distilled oils from cloud forest ingredients, and DNA interpretation of our scientific results. She also has proved invaluable as we quantify our reforestation data results in comparing rewilding with different assisted reforestation techniques with a wide range of native tree species.

Argelis Guàrete

Culinary Research Head

Argelis Guàrete, combines her experience as a licenced administrator, small businesswoman and mother -having learned boots-on-the-ground under challenging conditions as an Afro-Venezuelan immigrant, to show her resourcefulness to process our cloud forest ingredients into versatile culinary uses. She has made spectacular Poroton arepas and baguettes, nutritious beverages from logma, among other practical and delicious recipes.

Freddy Avila

Local Forestry Expert

Freddy Avila combines his indigenous Quechua knowledge, and deep spiritual connections to the forest with his remarkable skills in everything forest-related, from taking water samples to assisting botanists and herpetologists, to managing GPS and other data-collecting devices. His photographic skills never cease to amaze, nor his tree-climbing skills. Freddie has proven a critical ally in data collection, and has been keen to prepare the recycled wood and show carpentry prowess for construction of the Crystal Frog research center.

Laura Donoso

Environmental Advisor

Laura Donoso, doctor in Law from the Catholic University of Quito, and with an LL.M. in intellectual property law from Stockholm University in Sweden, brings permanent sage legal and practical advice to the team as we chart our way through environmental challenges. She is passionate about wildlife protection, committed to keeping the white spectacled bears, Andean eagles and at-risk frogs safe, and she pioneered our orchid orphanage. She is the bilingual voice of Dipsas, our award-winning short film. Laura represented the State of Ecuador at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and has been appointed to diplomatic posts including Ecuadorian Ambassador to Malaysia, Belize and El Salvador.