Honest Leaders

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.

Dave Loretta has served as the Chief Financial Officer of The Honest Company since September 2023. With more than 25 years of experience, Loretta has a strong track record of driving financial strength and scale across a wide range of retail companies that deliver consumer-centric digital experiences through innovative business models. In this role, Loretta reports directly to CEO Carla Vernón and oversees Honest’s Finance, Accounting and Investor Relations organizations.

Prior to joining Honest, Dave most recently served as SVP, Chief Financial Officer of Duluth Trading (DLTH). He joined the company in 2017, two years after its Initial Public Offering, and helped grow the business from $400 million in revenue to $700 million. Additionally, Loretta spent more than 17 years in a series of roles at Nordstrom and Restoration Hardware, where he developed deep retail and consumer product knowledge. Dave holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, Riverside, and a Master of Business Administration from San Diego State University. 
 

Kate Barton has served as our Chief Growth Officer since May 2023. In this role, Kate is focused on driving growth ideas that inspire the loyalty and imagination of Honest’s passionate consumers. She oversees Honest’s baby, beauty, wellness, personal care and household care categories while also guiding the company’s Honest.com, creative design and communications teams. Prior to joining Honest, Kate was Chief Brand Officer of Magnolia, the lifestyle company founded by Joanna and Chip Gaines. In this role, she led high-performing teams across marketing, creative and design and was foundational to optimizing the company’s brand strategy, omnichannel content, direct-to-consumer communications and partnering with Warner Brothers Discovery for the successful launch of Magnolia Network, a collection of original programming. Kate also has deep experience in beauty and skincare from her time at Estée Lauder’s Aveda brand, where she was responsible for driving year-over-year share growth across North American B2B and B2C channels. Prior to her leadership of Aveda, Kate was at Johnson & Johnson, where she managed global campaigns for Clean & Clear and led Neutrogena’s global anti-aging innovation pipeline. She also worked on many leading food brands at General Mills. Kate holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing from Baylor University, and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School.

Steve Winchell has served as our Executive Vice President, Operations and R&D since June 2022 where he is responsible for further integrating our supply chain and R&D processes. Prior to joining Honest, Winchell worked for The Parent Company, where he served as the Executive Vice President of Product. In this role, Winchell played an integral role in taking the company public in 2021. During his time at The Parent Company, Winchell established and managed the end-to-end innovation, new product process and developed the company’s strategy to diversify its product portfolio. Prior to The Parent Company, Winchell spent over 14 years at The Clorox Company where he held multiple roles in managing Burt’s Bees, Cleaning Division’s R&D, International R&D and Home Care Product Development. He also led the process development department, new product development process, and was involved in multiple supply chain initiatives.

Tom Sternweis is Vice President of Enterprise Development and Strategy, where he is responsible for developing the company's overall strategy and overseeing partnerships and ventures that contribute to both the growth and efficiency objectives of the organization. Prior to joining Honest, Tom led M&A and China growth strategy at Mattel, Inc. Prior to joining Mattel, Tom held roles at the Boston Consulting Group and private equity firms. He holds a B.A. in Mathematical Methods in Social Sciences and Economics from Northwestern University, an M.B.A. from Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management, and he was a Fulbright Scholar in Economics.