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).
Andrew Harrison
Chief Technology Officer
Education
B.A. Rice University Favorite Restaurant
Barley Swine (Austin) Happy Place
In my kitchen
Andrew leads 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.
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.
Tony Qu
Operations
Education
B.S. University of Maryland Favorite Restaurant
Mi La Cay Happy Place
Beijing Olympic Park
Tony is an intern with the business operations team. He is passionate about data-driven marketing and also enjoys the interpersonal aspects of business. Prior to Hazel, Tony worked in the marketing department at the U.S. Naval Academy's Athletic Association. Outside of work, he loves playing basketball, traveling, and watching movies.
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.
Zara Anderson
Product
Education
BFA Cornell College Favorite Restaurant
Thai Thom Happy Place
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Zara is a Product Design Intern at Hazel. She has a background in marketing, fine art, and UX design. She is passionate about creating beautiful user journeys from start to finish. Before Hazel, Zara worked as a UX Designer for a Seattle fashion start-up and was an Instructional Assistant for a UX Design course. When she's not working, Zara can be found exploring Seattle with her Australian Shepherd.
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.
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.
Elder Patten Ferreira
Engineering
Education
B.S. University of Pará Favorite Restaurant
Point do Açaí (Belém, Brazil) Happy Place
West Rosebud Lake, MT
Elder is a member of the engineering team at Hazel. He enjoys creating user experiences that take into account not only aesthetics, but also accessibility, security, and performance. When Elder is not working, he's either reading a book, searching for new songs to listen to in random Spotify playlists, or ordering chicken wings.
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 team, 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.
Rachel Vuu
Engineering
Education
B.S. University of Washington Favorite Restaurant
Gyu-Kaku (Bellevue) Happy Place
Any boba shop
Rachel is a Software Engineer Intern on the data team. She is passionate about the public health sector and bridging the gap between people, information, and technology. Outside of work, Rachel enjoys traveling, attending music festivals, and taking her Shiba Inu to the dog park.
Naisan Noorassa
Engineering
Education
B.S. University of Washington Favorite Restaurant
Chipotle Happy Place
Driving around at night
Naisan is a Software Engineer Intern on the data team. He's also a student at the University of Washington majoring in Computer Science and belongs to the rock-climbing club and a club that writes code for non-profit organizations. In his free time, he enjoys making and listening to music, exercising, watching sci-fi shows and movies, and reading.
Our Founding Team
Ben Bederson
Co-Founder
Education
PhD, New York University Favorite Restaurant
Sharaku (New York, NY) Happy Place
Woods in the Berkshires, MA
Ben co-founded Hazel and is on the Board of Directors. He has a long history of entrepreneurship (this is company #3) 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
Ginger Jin
Co-Founder
Education
PhD, UCLA Favorite Restaurant
Din Tai Fung Happy Place
West Lake (Hangzhou, China)
Ginger is a Professor of Economics at the University of Maryland, and has spent nearly two decades studying quality disclosure and other regulations. Outside academia, Ginger served as a scholar at Amazon, and previously as the Director of the Bureau of Economics at the Federal Trade Commission. She loves cooking and playing bridge.
Phillip Leslie
Co-Founder
Education
PhD, Yale
Phillip co-founded Hazel while he was a professor at the UCLA Anderson School of Management, based on over a decade of research centered around regulatory disclosure in the context of food safety. Prior to UCLA, he was also a professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Today, Phillip serves as VP and Chief Economist at Amazon.
Arash Nasibi
Co-Founder
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).