Our Team
Arash Nasibi
Chief Executive Officer
Education
MBA UCLA Favorite Restaurant
Meals by Genet (Los Angeles) Happy Place
All things Spain
Arash has led Hazel's successful transition from university research project to a leading technology company that is turning the needle on food safety and public health. Prior to founding Hazel, he had a career in management consulting and was also a founding member and CIO of StudentMentor.org. Arash enjoys listening to podcasts on his daily walking commute, swimming, and traveling (far too often to Spain).
Ben Bederson
Chief Technology Officer
Education
M.S. & PhD New York University Favorite Restaurant
Sharaku (New York) Happy Place
Woods in the Berkshires, MA
Ben co-founded Hazel, leading tech since day one, and is on the Board of Directors. He has a long history of entrepreneurship with a focus on visualization, mobile and creative interactivity. He enjoyed being a Computer Science Professor at UMD for 20 years where he is most well known for his work on zoomable user interfaces. He is a life-long geek and is perhaps most proud of his 6502 PacMan game on his high school Apple IIe.
Enming Luo
Business Operations
Education
MBA UCLA Favorite Restaurant
Any place that strives to reduce food waste Happy Place
Hanging out with dogs
A proud veteran, Enming served two tours in Afghanistan as a U.S. Marine Captain. After leaving the service, he earned an MBA and transitioned to the technology sector, working in consumer electronics before joining Hazel Analytics. At Hazel, Enming engages customers, develops relationships, and ensures the success of clients and partners. Enming is an avid fitness enthusiast and baker of desserts.
Kat Darvishzadeh
Business Operations
Education:
B.S. Michigan State University Favorite Restaurant:
Marini's Empanada House (Houston) Happy Place:
Anywhere near the water
Kat works on a variety of business operations projects at Hazel, but her favorite part is interacting with customers and working on anything data-related. Prior to joining the team, Kat worked in local and state government and the nonprofit sector where she focused on data analysis and project management. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, crafting, traveling, and sailing.
Kevin Ruth
Product
Education
MBA Seattle University Favorite Restaurant
El Indio (San Diego) Happy Place
Strapped into a snowboard
Kevin works on all things product-related at Hazel, and particularly loves creating and testing out new ideas. Prior to joining Hazel, Kevin built products as a mechanical engineer before transitioning into product management for enterprise health technology. In his spare time, you can find him at Sounders matches or out in the beautiful Pacific Northwest wilderness.
Gentry Johnson
Data Science
Education
PhD candidate University of Maryland Favorite Restaurant
Chicago Diner (Chicago) Happy Place
Mexico City, Mexico
Gentry works on data science at Hazel, combining tools from econometrics and machine learning. He has previously been a researcher at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and Microsoft AI. He enjoys playing guitar, running, and learning languages in his spare time.
Kitty Mohammed
Data Science
Education
PhD University of Washington Favorite Restaurant
Glo's (Seattle) Happy Place
Seattle in the summer
As a data scientist at Hazel, Kitty uses machine learning and predictive analytics to explore health department inspection data. She is passionate about creating easy-to-use products that generate useful insights. Before Hazel, she completed her PhD in Statistics, writing her dissertation on manifold learning. When she's not at work, you can find Kitty dancing with friends or curled up with a cup of hot chocolate and Netflix.
Andrew Harrison
Engineering
Education
B.A. Rice University Favorite Restaurant
Barley Swine (Austin) Happy Place
In my kitchen
Andrew coordinates projects for Hazel's engineering team and contributes code throughout the software stack. With a decade of startup experience under his belt, he's passionate about professional mentorship, data analysis, and scalability. Outside of Hazel, Andrew enjoys exploring Seattle's restaurant scene and attempting new recipes at home. He also volunteers at Ada Developers Academy, a local nonprofit coding bootcamp.
Colin Chapman
Engineering
Education
M.S. MIT Favorite Restaurant
El Gaucho (Seattle) Happy Place
In the mountains
Colin is on the software engineering team. Prior to joining Hazel, he spent nearly a decade working in the food industry, serving in technical and managerial roles at crop protection and food safety & sanitation startups. He loves building software applications that deliver enhanced productivity to users. When not working, Colin enjoys backpacking, Nordic skiing, and exploring the world with his wife and daughter.
Richard To
Engineering
Education
B.S. University of Alaska Anchorage Favorite Restaurant
Del Taco Happy Place
McDonald's Happy Meal
Richard works on the software engineering team. In previous incarnations, he promoted Sears credit cards, became a hyper efficient data entry robot, volunteered as a web developer for nonprofits, wrote Home & Garden articles as a newspaper intern, and tutored in reading & programming. Outside of work, he enjoys running, meditation, reading, and writing fiction.
Alex Tan
Engineering
Education
B.S. University of Washington Favorite Restaurant
Red Mill Burgers (Seattle) Happy Place
Window seat of a commercial jet
As a full stack engineer, Alex enjoys constructing APIs, services, and front-end experiences with an end user and purpose in mind. Before joining Hazel, Alex taught Scratch, HTML, and CSS to K-8 students in Seattle Public Schools after-school programs. Outside of the computing realm, he enjoys live music, travel, and craft beer.
Ryan Bald
Engineering
Education
M.S. University of Washington Favorite Restaurant
Qdoba Happy Place
Qdoba
Ryan predominantly develops in the back-end of the stack and especially enjoys debugging. Prior to Hazel, he worked for a tech startup in southern California that provided software solutions aimed at making real-time data processing more scalable. When he's not working, Ryan is either watching critically-acclaimed cinema or playing basketball.
John Diego
Engineering
Education
B.S. University of Washington Favorite Restaurant
Cajun Crawfish (Seattle) Happy Place
Large movie theaters
John is a member of the software engineering team where he plays a role in the development, maintenance, and expansion of Hazel's retail food safety data. Prior to finding his passion for software development, John held multiple IT support roles at the University of Washington. Outside of the office, John enjoys playing basketball, hiking, and watching 90s sitcoms.
Bety Mehide
Engineering
Education
M.S. University of Washington Favorite Restaurant
F-hoone (Tallinn, Estonia) Happy Place
The lake near my grandparents' place
Bety helps to maintain, grow, and improve the automated data gathering capabilities at Hazel. Prior to joining the time, she completed internships in digital marketing while teaching herself programming so she could start a software engineering career. Outside of work, Bety loves to travel, hike, go bouldering, watch movies at the cinema, and bake.