READ HABITABLE’S NEW REPORTDesigning Out Plastics: A Blueprint for Healthier Building Materials
HabitableNew Voices, Shared Vision: Welcoming Four Extraordinary Leaders to the Habitable Board
People
I’ve spent much of the past decade thinking about what it really takes to change systems. Not nudge them. Not optimize around the edges. But truly transform them.
What I keep coming back to is this: transformation requires people who see the problem from every angle—scientists and financiers, designers and advocates, seasoned leaders and the next generation who will carry this work forward.
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.
Seydina Fall: Financing the Future of Healthy Cities
One of the most important questions we face is: How do we align economic incentives with the transformation we seek?
Seydina Fall helps answer that question.
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.
Kathleen Egan: Closing the Gap Between Intent and Action
At Habitable, we know that when people have access to credible, actionable information, they make better decisions.
Kathleen Egan has built her career on that same belief.
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.
Joon Ta: Designing with Equity and Accountability
Joon Ta represents the next generation of design leadership—and the future of our field.
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.
Jennifer Uchendu: Engaging a Global Generation
Jennifer Uchendu brings a powerful global perspective—and an extraordinary ability to connect with the next generation of changemakers.
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.
The Board We Need for the Work Ahead
These four leaders join a board already distinguished by its breadth of expertise and depth of commitment—spanning public health, green chemistry, design, equity, and systems change.
Nsedu Obot Witherspoon, MPH, Chair
Children’s Environmental Health Network, Executive Director
Children’s Environmental Health Network, Executive Director
Carolyn Fine Friedman
The Fine Fund, Chair
The Fine Fund, Chair
Sara Cederberg, Vice Chair
Amazon, Infrastructure Sustainability Lead
Amazon, Infrastructure Sustainability Lead
David Johnson
AGI Avant Group, Architect & Developer
AGI Avant Group, Architect & Developer
Monica Nakielski, Treasurer
University of California San Diego Health, Chief Sustainability Officer
University of California San Diego Health, Chief Sustainability Officer
Rachel Hodgdon
International WELL Building Institute, CEO
International WELL Building Institute, CEO
Joiana Hooks, Secretary
Cooper Carry Design, Designer
Cooper Carry Design, Designer
Dr. Felix Kabo
Cannon Design, Research & Development Director
Cannon Design, Research & Development Director
Brad Grant
Howard University College of Engineering and Architecture, Professor of Architecture
Howard University College of Engineering and Architecture, Professor of Architecture
Beth Rattner
Morpho Collective, Co-Founder
Morpho Collective, Co-Founder
What unites the Habitable board is a shared conviction: the status quo is not working—and it is not acceptable.
Together, this board reflects the scale and complexity of the challenge before us—and the opportunity to meet it.
Habitable is a 25-year-old organization that has never been more urgently needed. And I have never been more optimistic about what we can accomplish together.
Please join me in welcoming Seydina, Kathleen, Joon, and Jennifer—and in recognizing the extraordinary group of leaders who are helping to drive a materials economy that is in harmony with nature and supports all life.
— Gina Zaitz Ciganik
CEO, Habitable
HealthPioneering Pathways to Planetary Health: Habitable’s 2024 Milestones
News
In 2024, Habitable experienced significant growth and transformation. Our strategic rebrand from Healthy Building Network to Habitable marked a pivotal shift in how we communicate and achieve our mission. We expanded our organization’s historic focus on green chemistry and on the lifecycle effects of toxic chemicals in building products to scale our results and achieve pollution reduction, climate change mitigation, and equity and environmental justice. Through new and growing partnerships with Beyond Petrochemicals, Cooper Carry architecture and design, and many others, we’ve positioned ourselves to tackle increasingly complex challenges at the intersection of the materials economy and planetary health, ensuring a habitable future for all. Check out our 2024 Year in Review for more information.
Key Milestones That Shaped Our Year
Redefining Our Identity
This year, our transition to Habitable represented more than a name change—it embodies our new vision: All people and the planet thrive when the materials economy is in balance with Earth’s natural systems. . This new identity reflects our team’s capabilities and our evolution towards a more comprehensive approach to creating a path to planetary health. The rebrand has enabled us to activate our mission more broadly, setting the stage for deep engagement with new audiences, and more effective communication of our vision for a healthier planet.
Expanding Our Research Footprint
In 2024, Habitable’s research revealed critical connections between building materials and planetary health. Our groundbreaking policy brief, Buildings’ Hidden Plastic Problem, reported a startling reality: the building and construction sector is the second-largest consumer of plastics globally, behind packaging. This research advances our work among global audiences, reshaping the conversation around plastic pollution by highlighting a crucial opportunity to reduce fossil fuel demand through better building practices. We deepened this investigation through our fact sheet Our Disposable Plastic Buildings, developed in partnership with Perkins&Will, and engaged industry leaders through our webinar Buildings Contribution to Global Plastic Crisis.
Beyond our pioneering work on plastics, we expanded our research to address planetary health challenges across various scales. Our report, Advancing Health and Equity through Better Building Products, highlights examples of leaders within and beyond Minnesota’s built environment who are taking action toward safer material choices and provides guidance on how the real estate industry can begin working towards a healthier future. A joint article with SERA Architects, Healthy Materials and the Constitutional Responsibility for Health and Wellbeing, emphasizes the need to prioritize solutions that address both climate change and toxic pollution in frontline communities. Meanwhile, our webinar Redesigning the Materials Economy for People and Our Planet convened global thought leaders to explore systemic solutions to these same challenges. These interconnected initiatives have positioned Habitable at the forefront of research linking building materials to both environmental and human health outcomes, setting the stage for even deeper investigations in 2025.
Building Stronger Partnerships
Transformative partnerships defined our work in 2024. With support from Beyond Petrochemicals, we launched an innovative research exploring the significant human and environmental impacts from plastics use in the building sector. This collaboration enabled us to highlight the necessity of including the built environment in plastic policy considerations, marking our entry into the global effort to reduce plastic pollution, including a partnership with Dr. Bethanie Carney Almorth, who is involved in the Global Plastics Treaty negotiations. Our growing network of partners—from universities, corporations, government agencies to NGOs—has enriched our approach and expanded our capacity to drive meaningful change.
Growing Our Community
The Habitable team expanded in 2024, welcoming Priya Premchandran, a seasoned sustainability practitioner with over 15 years of experience at the intersection of the built environment and human health, who has already shaped our InformedTM initiative in profound ways. Our presence at major conferences and leading firms across the country–including Greenbuild, Verge, CannonDesign, AIA MN, USGBC Green Schools and more–positioned us within crucial discussions about material health impacts, while our convening a community of practice in Minnesota participation helped forge new connections with built environment innovators, like the Lower Sioux Community. These engagements have not only elevated our voice in key conversations but have also informed our strategic direction.
Looking Ahead
2025 marks Habitable’s 25th anniversary year. The foundations we’ve built in 2024–our strategic rebrand, renewed research focus, strengthened partnerships, and expanded community–position us to pursue our mission and vision with renewed vigor.
The challenges facing planetary health demand bold action and fresh thinking. Through our work, Habitable remains committed to catalyzing the transformative changes needed for a more sustainable and equitable future.
If you have appreciated our resources and efforts, please consider a donation. We look forward to working with you in the new year!