
About Us
Our Team
Katie Cantrell
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Katie is a social entrepreneur passionate about creating a healthy, sustainable, and just food system. As the founder of the New Roots Institute, Katie spent a decade leading food policy workshops at universities, government agencies, and Fortune 500 corporations. She is now utilizing her expertise to implement plant-based defaults in institutional foodservice. Katie holds a Bachelor’s degree in psychology from UC Berkeley. Her work with GBD was recently featured in the New York Times, and she was chosen for Vox’s Future Perfect 50 list of innovators, thinkers, and changemakers for 2024.
Dr. Shabnam Islam
Academic Director
Shabnam is an academic, certified exercise physiologist, and pioneer in developing sustainable and affordable public health initiatives within higher education. With over a decade-long career teaching Kinesiology, Shabnam has earned special recognition by organizations like the Clinton Global Initiative University for developing student-led fitness programs for at-risk communities. She completed her doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policy and earned a master’s in Kinesiology from California State University Northridge. As Academic Director, she aims to help academic institutions develop evidence-based, sustainable, and cost-effective initiatives that improve individual and community-wide health.
Ilana Braverman
Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer
Ilana’s work focuses on the nexus of climate change and food; she gave a TEDx talk on the topic, “Moving Beyond a Hamburger Default World.” Prior to co-founding Greener by Default, Ilana served as the Director of Outreach for Better Food Foundation and Program Manager at Farm Forward. Ilana holds a Master's degree in Animals and Public Policy from the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University and a Bachelor’s degree in Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences with a focus in Human Dimensions from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Stefanie Lynch
Corporate Engagement Director
Stef has been working in food and advocacy spaces for over a decade. She began her career helping to open local food establishments in both the Boston and Los Angeles area, including Kitchen Mouse and Amped Kitchens (formerly LA Prep). She also has extensive experience running event catering operations after owning her own catering company and working as a sustainability producer for film production. She then left the food world to build coalitions for ballot initiatives and organize campaigns to increase reproductive health access. She’s excited to be combining her passions of food and advocacy together into her work at GBD.
Cassidy Ozowara
Healthcare Manager
Cassidy is a registered dietitian with expertise in medical dietary needs, ingredient transparency, and sustainable food systems. Holding a Master’s degree in Nutritional Science, she has a proven track record of collaborating with culinary teams to create inclusive dining experiences that meet a wide variety of dietary needs and preferences. During her time as Food Allergy & Inclusive Nutrition Programs Manager at Stanford University, Cassidy assisted in planning and implementing inclusive menus, ensuring balanced menu options, and providing transparent ingredient labels for all guests. She also championed plant-forward menu standards and fostered initiatives to promote health and sustainability. Cassidy is passionate about improving the health of people and the planet.
Hannah Kinder
Director of Operations & HR
Hannah leverages over a decade of experience in strategic planning and cross-functional leadership in the non-profit and consulting industries. With a background in business development and project management, she's adept at driving efficiency and optimizing processes. Drawing from her MBA from Quantic School of Business and Technology and a Bachelor's in Evolutionary & Environmental Biology, Hannah brings a unique blend of analytical insight and environmental consciousness to her role.
Heidi Fritz
Healthcare Director
Heidi is a public health dietitian based in Denver with over 20 years of experience in health promotion/chronic disease prevention programs, training dietetic interns, and promoting organizational and systems change. She has managed projects ranging from healthy default beverage policy to workplace wellbeing initiatives, and serves on the Denver Sustainable Food Policy Council. Heidi is focused on supporting projects at the intersection of nutrition and climate resiliency. She holds a Master’s in Nutrition from the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science and a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing/Management from DePaul University.
Taylor Flores
Corporate Engagement Manager
Taylor is a corporate sustainability professional with over seven years of experience in customer relationship management, project management, and team leadership. She helped organizations attain green business certification during her time at the San Francisco Department of the Environment and led delivery of sponsorship programs and communications at Trellis, the leading events and multi-media company for sustainability professionals. Taylor is passionate about reducing the world’s carbon emissions through plant-based foods and focuses on helping companies serve more plant-forward menus in her role at Greener by Default.
Maddie Lee
Communications Intern
Maddie is a graduate of Bates College where she majored in Environmental Studies with a specific interest in sustainable food systems and food justice. She wrote her senior thesis on the history of Korea’s plant-based foodways and assumptions about East Asian cuisine that Euro-American media portrays. For eight years, Maddie has managed an Instagram page where she shares plant-based recipes and highlights restaurants and brands in the New England area and beyond.
Nancy Snyder
Healthcare Manager
Nancy is a registered dietitian with over a decade of experience collaborating with chefs and food manufacturers to promote transparency of restaurant nutrition information and encourage healthier eating patterns in foods consumed away from home. She holds a Master’s degree in Nutritional Science and assisted on an NIH-funded grant conducting research on restaurant recipe modification and consumer acceptability. Nancy’s background spans from menu consulting and nutrient analysis to labeling compliance for menus and retail foods. She also assisted in the development of a personalized menu platform, enabling diners to easily identify menu items that fit their nutritional needs and dietary preferences.
Amy Roach
UK Healthcare Manager
Amy is a registered dietitian in the UK. She has been practising for six years in the acute setting, including intervals spent specialising in adult stroke and critical care. Amy understands the need for ongoing high quality healthcare and believes this can be achieved in ways more sustainable to protect both people and planet. In line with this, Amy spent a year working as an NHS England Sustainability Fellow alongside her dietetic work, where she worked as part of a team implementing sustainable projects and raising awareness.
Alison Spasser
Communications Director
Alison is a seasoned advocacy communications professional, who has spent the past decade harnessing the power of storytelling to drive change in our food system. Prior to joining the GBD team, she helped build and steward comprehensive communications, branding, and marketing initiatives to advance plant-based foods and sustainable agriculture at the Plant Based Foods Association and Compassion in World Farming. Based in Atlanta, Alison holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Master’s degree in Public Affairs, with a focus in strategic communications, from the University of San Francisco.