Our Leadership Team
Board of Directors
Karel Vredenburg
President & Co-Founder
Karel has had a long career as a design executive, most recently as a Global Vice President at IBM. He is an Industry professor at McMaster University’s DeGroote Schools of Business and Medicine, where he teaches Innovation by Design to EMBA students, health leaders, and board directors. He has served on the Board of Directors for the IBM Employee Charitable Fund, was Vice President of the VegTO Board of Directors, and currently serves on the Advisory Boards of BITE and PRAXXI.
He co-founded and led several large-scale global initiatives, including the COVID-19 Design Challenge with the World Design Organization and Design for America, and the Future of Design Education Initiative alongside design visionary Don Norman. These efforts demonstrated that large-scale, volunteer-driven design-for-good projects can have outsized impact. Insightful conversations with award-winning filmmaker Carly Williams sparked the breakthrough idea of combining research and design with storytelling and filmmaking to tackle major global challenges. That vision led to the founding of Habits for a Better World, which they now lead together.
Karel did undergraduate, masters, and doctoral studies at the University of Toronto initially in cognitive science and clinical psychology which later led to research, specialization, and his life-long passion for, practice in, and leadership of design and research.
Carly Williams
Filmmaker, Producer, and Co-Founder
Carly is a Toronto-based filmmaker and producer. Collaborating with iconic brands including Microsoft Design, Pantone, Nike, UN Biodiversity, Harvard, Yale and more to produce documentary films which have screened at major design festivals including SXSW, DesignTO, NYCxDesign and more. Her first film The Garden of Secrets (2016, The Green Channel) on Biomimicry premiered at Cooper Hewitt's Smithsonian Museum, and was shortlisted for multiple Fastco World Changing Idea Awards. Carly was recently the Assembly Editor on BlackBerry (Paramount 2023) and is currently a full time Producer in Toronto, bringing commercial, feature and documentary stories to life.
Carly co-founded Habits for a Better World with Karel Vredenburg and co-leads it with him. She holds a BA in English Language and Literature from the University of Melbourne and Queen’s University, and an Honors BA in Film/Cinema/Video Studies from Queen’s University.
Nicole Fich
Vice President and Treasurer
Nicole is an investment professional with over 16 years of experience spanning investment banking, private equity and private credit. Most recently, she was a Partner at Penfund, a boutique private credit firm with approximately $3 billion of assets under management, where she co-led the underwriting and portfolio management functions.
Nicole currently serves as the Chair of the Board of Directors of We Animals and previously served as a Director and Treasurer of VegTO. She holds a BA in Honors Business Administration (with distinction) from Western University.
Emma Vredenburg
Secretary and Project Manager
Emma is a sustainability and placemaking professional with over a decade of experience designing and leading programs that connect people, nature, and community. At Evergreen Canada, her work has focused on activating public spaces, supporting local food systems, and curating climate-focused programming, while championing inclusive and community-led solutions. Passionate about plant-based living, animal welfare, and environmental justice, Emma brings a systems-thinking approach to building a more sustainable and compassionate future.
She holds a BA in Environmental Ethics and Human Geography from the University of Toronto and a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of Copenhagen.
Board of Advisors
Nital Jethalal
Economist and Policy Director
Nital is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of the Institute for Future Food Systems (IFFS), a nonprofit that mobilizes knowledge, solutions and networks to accelerate the transformation of food systems. He regularly advises a wide range of food and agriculture stakeholders on policy, procurement, and engagement strategies.
Previously, Nital served as Director of Economics and Policy at Plant-Based Data. His work in food systems began in 2008, in strategic policy at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, where he contributed to Canada’s first national agricultural policy framework. Nital is a Director on the board of the Toronto Vegetarian Food Bank and Studio89 and recently stepped down as President of VegTO, where he just co-launched Canada’s first national Veganuary campaign. He holds a BComm in International Trade and Business, and an MSc in International Economics from Queen’s University.
Alex Ciccone
Account Executive
Alex Ciccone is a mission-driven business leader with over a decade of experience in partnerships, sales strategy, and brand development across the health, wellness, and sustainability sectors. He has served as the Vice President of Business Development at Vegandale, where he helped scale one of North America's largest vegan festivals and built partnerships with leading consumer packaged goods, lifestyle, and wellness brands. His work centers on aligning business success with positive social and environmental impact. He is currently the account executive at EventMobi and has responsibility for helping event professionals deliver exceptional experiences.
A longtime advocate for veganism and holistic wellness, Alex brings both strategic insight and lived experience to his advisory work. As a board member with Habits for a Better World, he is passionate about helping individuals and organizations adopt simple yet powerful habits that foster personal growth and systemic change. He holds an Business Administration and Management degree from York University.
Antonella Mintegui
Account Manager
Antonella is a multidisciplinary professional with expertise in international trade, law, and business analytics, and has specialized knowledge in subtle, high-impact methods for inspiring behavior change.
She holds a PhD in Law from UDELAR, the University of the Republic in Uruguay.
Dennis Noto
Chief Technology Officer
Dennis brings deep technical expertise to our organization with his experience in management of world-class enterprise cloud deployments, technology audits and certifications (ISO, SAE16, SOX), redundant/fault-tolerant enterprise computing, and vendor/contract management. He also brings experience in product development, mobile form-factors, and AI.
He holds a Bachelor Degree in Science, Computer Science, and a Minor in Management Information Systems from the University of Oklahoma.
Executive Team
Tina Tran
Chief of Staff
Tina serves as the Chief of Staff to the President and Co-founder of Habits for a Better World. She is a strategic professional with global business experience, leveraging a diverse global finance background, Juris Doctorate, and multiple certifications to steer operations, policy development, and strategic planning. She’s managed complex business environments with agility, contributing significantly to organizational growth and efficiency.
Her experience in executive support transcends beyond task execution, time management, calendar coordination, travel arrangements, and interpersonal matters; it reflects a deep commitment to being a reliable and supportive partner to top executives. Her passion stems from a personal ethos to serve as a dependable ally, unafraid of addressing challenging issues others may avoid, while maintaining a poised balance of authority and empathy. This approach allows her to foster trust, anticipate needs, and provide solutions that align with long-term goals.
Tina holds a Bachelors degree from San Jose State University and a Doctor of Law degree from Whittier Law School in Costa Mesa, California.
Samantha Koch
Head of Human Resources
Samantha is the Head of a HR at Habits for a Better World and is Vice President of HR at Epicured, a rapidly growing healthcare organization. Throughout her career, she has partnered with executive leadership to build high performing teams, develop organizational strategy, and guide companies through periods of significant growth across healthcare, technology, and mission driven organizations. Her work focuses on aligning people, culture, and business strategy to help organizations scale while maintaining strong leadership and employee engagement.
Outside of her professional career, Samantha has volunteered with Camp Sunshine for more than a decade, supporting children with life threatening illnesses and their families during organ transplant and bereavement programs. She has also volunteered with Operation Blessing, assisting communities recovering from natural disasters. Her passion for service and organizational leadership led her to join the Advisory Board of Habits for a Better World, where she provides strategic guidance on leadership, organizational growth, and people development.
Samantha holds dual bachelor's degrees in Human Resources Management and Labor Studies and Employment Relations from Rutgers University.
Dainiera (Dee) Kairaitis
Head of Operations
Dee is the Head of Operations at Habits for a Better World, where she oversees operational strategy, governance, and process optimization to drive scalable, high-impact growth. With over 13 years of experience in strategic PMO leadership and business operations, she specializes in designing structured execution models for complex, multi-functional initiatives where clear visibility and operational discipline are critical.
Throughout her career, she has built and scaled operational systems across both fast-paced startups and heavily regulated global enterprises. Her background includes standing up PMO frameworks from scratch, directing multi-million dollar international programs, and establishing governance standards across global cross-functional teams. Her core focus is on standardizing processes, establishing single sources of truth, and leveraging data-driven insights to ensure teams can deliver efficiently.
Dee holds a Masters Degree in Healthcare Administration from Saint Joseph’s University and certificates in Artificial Intelligence from Johns Hopkins University's Whiting School of Engineering and Project Management from Villanova University.
Gabriell (Gabby) Washington
Head of Project Management
Gabby specializes in helping teams make sense of complex work and translating big goals into actionable plans. She is at her best when navigating challenges that cross technical, operational, and people boundaries, identifying where teams are stuck, streamlining processes, and creating solutions around how people actually think and work.
Her background spans aerospace manufacturing, enterprise IT, health tech, and supply chain tech, including program delivery at Gulfstream and Wayfair across large, multi-site environments. Most recently, Gabby has advised founders and nonprofit leaders on project execution, collaborative team frameworks, and AI-enabled workflows. At HBW, she heads up project management initiatives to ensure our work and systems are clear, efficient, and reliable for the people who depend on them.
Gabby holds a Bachelor’s degree of Science, Industrial, and Systems Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology and an MBA from Mercer University Stetson-Hatcher School of Business.
Beth Keller Kirycki
Head of Strategic Enablement
Beth is the Head of Strategic Enablement at Habits for a Better World, where she helps turn research, strategy, and complex cross-functional work into clear systems that teams can use. Her work focuses on identifying gaps and opportunities across initiatives, improving how teams make and communicate decisions, and building frameworks that help HBW move ideas from exploration into coordinated action.
Beth brings 17 years of experience across research, writing, content strategy, information architecture, and higher education. She is a tenured Associate Professor of English at Purdue University Fort Wayne, where her work draws on rhetoric, user research, and communication design to understand how people interpret information, make decisions, and act.
At HBW, she works across teams and disciplines, connecting research, content, design, and organizational strategy while developing systems that make complex work easier to understand and execute. She holds a Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Writing from Michigan State University.