New Voices, Shared Vision: Welcoming Four Extraordinary Leaders to the Habitable Board

That belief shapes everything we are building at Habitable. We are working toward a new materials economy—one that supports the health of all people and the planet. Doing so requires honesty about what is no longer sufficient, and boldness about what is now possible.

It also requires the right people at the table.

Our board members are not just advisors. They are co-architects of our strategy, ambassadors of our mission, and influential voices shaping the future of the materials movement. That’s why I am so excited to welcome four new members who bring exactly the perspectives and capabilities this moment demands: Seydina Fall, Kathleen Egan, Joon Ta, and Jennifer Uchendu.

A senior lecturer in finance at Johns Hopkins Carey Business School and co-faculty director at the Institute for Planetary Health, Seydina works at the intersection of finance, cities, and human health. His work explores how the built environment can be designed and financed to support both people and ecosystems.

From Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, he has convened global leaders around a shared challenge: how do we build environments that sustain life rather than deplete it?

Seydina brings a rare combination of financial expertise and systems thinking—helping us unlock the models, partnerships, and capital flows needed to scale lasting change.

As co-founder and CEO of Ecomedes, she has developed a platform that helps building professionals find and specify sustainable products. Her work focuses on what she calls the “Intention Gap”—the space between sustainability goals and real-world purchasing decisions.

Kathleen also brings deep leadership in the movement to reduce plastic pollution, including her role as outgoing Board Chair of The 5 Gyres Institute.

Her expertise sits squarely at the intersection of data, tools, and decision-making. Kathleen understands, as we do, that the solution requires better science, better data tools, more accessible information, and a procurement ecosystem designed to help people act. She is exactly the bridge between intent and impact that we need.

A designer at MSR Design, Joon approaches design as a form of research and inquiry. Her work has explored forced labor in material supply chains, the health impacts of recycled materials, and the embodied carbon of interior finishes.

She also plays an active role in advancing sustainability and health through the International Interior Design Association.

Interior designers are among the most powerful—and often overlooked—drivers of material decisions. Joon brings clarity to what those decisions mean: they shape who is protected, who is exposed, and how impacts are distributed across communities.

Her combination of technical rigor and equity-centered thinking is exactly what this work requires.

As founder of SustyVibes, one of Africa’s largest youth-led sustainability platforms, Jennifer has built a movement that combines research, advocacy, and community engagement. Her work has reached across the continent, making sustainability accessible, relevant, and actionable.

Named to the BBC 100 Women list, Jennifer has also pioneered work on climate change and mental health through the Eco-Anxiety Africa Project.

She brings a critical insight: for transformation to take hold, sustainability must meet people where they are. It must resonate, inspire, and mobilize.

Jennifer ensures that the future we are building is inclusive, global, and driven by those who will inherit it.