Board of Directors

James D. White is a seasoned business leader with 30 years of industry knowledge, primarily within the consumer-packaged goods and retail sectors. Mr. White served for eight years, from 2008 to 2016, as the Chairman, President and CEO of Jamba Inc. During his tenure Mr. White led the successful turnaround and transformation of the company from a made-to-order smoothie shop to a global, healthy active lifestyle brand. Prior to Jamba Inc., from 2005 to 2008, Mr. White was Senior Vice President and General Manager of Safeway, Inc., a leading U.S. supermarket chain. From 1983 to 2005 Mr. White held management roles at Gillette, Nestle Purina and Coca-Cola. Additionally, Mr. White currently serves on the boards of Affirm Holdings, Inc., Simply Good Foods and Schnucks Supermarkets. He previously served on the boards of Adtalem Global Education, CallidusCloud, Daymon Worldwide, Hillshire Brands and Medallia. His non-profit board experience includes Directors Academy, where he is a founding member and currently Board Chair, Board member Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose (CECP) as well as former Board Chair for Fair Trade USA. Mr. White received a Bachelor of Science degree, with a major in marketing, from The University of Missouri and an MBA from Fontbonne University. He is also a graduate of the Cornell University Food Executive Program and was a Stanford University Distinguished Careers Institute Fellow in 2018.

Carla Vernón joined Honest as Chief Executive Officer in January 2023. As the first Afro-Latina CEO of a U.S. publicly traded company, Vernón brings a new era of leadership that reflects the diversity of Honest’s consumers. In her role, Vernón will be laser focused on driving category growth, business innovation, and profitability to deliver the company’s core mission of inspiring everyone to love living consciously.

Prior to joining Honest, Vernón served as the Vice President of Consumables Categories at Amazon.com, Inc. where she had P&L responsibility for Household Essentials, Wellness, Beauty, Baby, Food and Beverage categories on Amazon.com as well as responsibility for technology development for those categories. Prior to joining Amazon, Vernón spent more than two decades in various P&L leadership roles at General Mills, Inc., most recently serving as the Operating Unit President of the Natural & Organic Division from July 2017 to April 2020. Vernón holds a B.A. degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Princeton and a Master of Business Administration from Texas McCombs School of Business. Vernón serves on the Board of Trustees for Princeton University.

Jessica Alba is one of our founders and has served as our Chief Creative Officer and on our board of directors since our founding in July 2011. She brings a wealth of knowledge on both the broader industry and the company to our business. Ms. Alba is a globally recognized and influential Mexican American business leader, entrepreneur, advocate, actress and New York Times bestselling author. Ms. Alba serves on the board of directors of Baby2Baby, a charitable organization that provides diapers, clothes and other basic necessities to children living in poverty.

Katie Bayne is the Founder of Bayne Advisors, a strategic consulting and advising firm. She is also a Senior Advisor at Guggenheim Securities. Ms. Bayne was a longtime senior executive at Coca-Cola with varying roles of increasing responsibility, and ultimately served as Chief Marketing Officer and then President, North America Brands. Ms. Bayne has nearly two decades of Board Service as an independent director of six public companies. In addition to serving on the board of Honest Company, Ms. Bayne is also an Independent Director at Acreage Holdings, LLC (multistate Cannabis) where she is an Audit Committee member and an Independent Director at Eargo (hearing health/medical devices) where she is on the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. Bayne has both a BA and an MBA from Duke University and is a member of the Board of Visitors at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business. Bayne is also a member of the Executive Board of Directors of the Cox School of Business, at Southern Methodist University where she lectures annually.

Ms. Brown served as the Chief Procurement Officer of Mars Wrigley, a division of Mars, Incorporated, a global manufacturer of confectionery, food, and petcare products and services, from November 2020 to March 2021. From April 2015 to September 2020, she served as the Chief Procurement Officer of Carnival Corporation & plc. From November 2008 to March 2015, she served as Chief Procurement Officer at Kraft Foods and then Mondelēz International, Inc. when it split from Kraft Foods Inc. in 2012. She currently serves on the board of directors of the following publicly traded companies: Molson Coors Beverage Company and Solo Brands, Inc. Ms. Brown holds a Bachelor of Commerce from McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada.

Susan Gentile joined Advent International Corp. as Managing Director on August 1, 2022. Her appointment as the firm’s Chief Financial Officer is effective October 1, 2022. Prior to joining Advent International Corp., Ms. Gentile was H.I.G. Capital’s Chief Financial & Administrative Officer where she was responsible for the firm’s accounting, tax, information technology, human resources, administration, and real estate operations worldwide. Ms. Gentile also previously worked with Oaktree Capital Group, LLC, where she served as the Chief Accounting Officer and a Managing Director for the last five years. Prior to Oaktree, she held senior-level accounting, internal controls, and financial reporting roles at The Clorox Company, Levi Strauss, Motorola, and Next Level Communications. Ms. Gentile began her career with Deloitte in the audit and assurance practice. Ms. Gentile received her B.S. and B.A. degrees in finance from Boston University and is also a Certified Public Accountant.

Mr. Hartung has served as Chief Financial Officer of Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (“Chipotle”) since 2002. Prior to joining Chipotle, Mr. Hartung worked for 18 years at McDonald’s Corp., where he held a variety of management positions, most recently as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of its Partner Brands Group. Mr. Hartung has a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting and economics as well as an M.B.A. from Illinois State University.

Eric Liaw has served on our board of directors since November 2013 and currently serves on our Audit and Compensation Committees. Mr. Liaw is a General Partner at IVP, a late stage venture capital firm that he joined in 2011. Mr. Liaw currently serves on the boards of public companies ZipRecruiter, Inc. and Lulus Fashion Lounge, Inc. and has been recognized as one of the top 100 venture capitalists in the world by the New York Times and CB Insights and one of the top 25 software investors by Growth Cap. Mr. Liaw and his family have been happy Honest customers since its founding in 2011. Mr. Liaw holds a BA in Economics with a minor in Computer Science and a MS in Management Science & Engineering, both from Stanford University.

Avik Pramanik is a Partner at L Catterton focused on the Buyout fund. Prior to joining L Catterton, Mr. Pramanik was Director of Strategic Development at Alterna, a prestige branded haircare company. Prior to his role at Alterna, Mr. Pramanik worked at TSG Consumer Partners, a middle-market private equity firm focused on growth equity investments and leveraged buyouts of consumer product companies. Prior to joining TSG, Mr. Pramanik worked in the Principal Investment Area at Goldman Sachs, where he started his career in the Investment Banking Division's Consumer Products and Retail group. Mr. Pramanik graduated magna cum laude with a BSBA in Finance and International Business from Georgetown University.

Nick Vlahos served as our Chief Executive Officer from March 2017 to January 2023 and currently serves as a member of our board of directors since March 2017. During his time at Honest, Vlahos scaled the company from startup to a publicly traded, globally recognized lifestyle brand while fostering a diverse and inclusive environment. Prior to joining Honest, Vlahos built his career at The Clorox Company, where he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Household, Lifestyle and Core Global Functions. In this role, he was directly responsible for five global functions: Sales, Marketing, Research & Development, I.T. and Product Supply. Mr. Vlahos is a Board Advisor for Tillamook Dairy and sits on the Board of Consumer Brands Association. Mr. Vlahos holds a B.A. degree in telecommunications from Indiana University.