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.
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.
Hannah Kinder
Operations Manager
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 Program 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.
Zoe Novic
Healthcare Program Manager
Zoe is a graduate of the Yale School of Public Health where she specialized in Social and Behavioral Sciences and One Health, the connection between human health, animal welfare, and environmental health. Zoe served in the Peace Corps in West Java, Indonesia, and has experience in grassroots organizing, public health policy, and advocacy. She is passionate about creating a healthier world for all humans, animals, and our planet. Zoe's work focuses on implementing plant-based defaults in hospital dining systems in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Desman Wilson
Research Coordinator
Desman Wilson strives to transform global food systems and advocate for sustainable and ethical food practices. He graduated from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a degree in Psychology, then earned a Masters of Science in Management and Organizations at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management. His social psychology research on algorithmic discrimination has been published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.
Olivia Zheng
Communications Intern
Olivia is an undergraduate student at Harvard University studying integrative biology and economics. She is interested in the role of food systems in global public health, particularly in infectious disease risk, and their impacts on biodiversity. Olivia highlights educational events on industrial agriculture and other plant-based events at her college as a part of the Media Board in Harvard Undergraduate Plant Based.