tinyTeam
AAMAR KHWAJA
FOUNDER, CEO & THE ORIGINAL TINY FARMER
Meet Aamar Khwaja, a foodie with a fiduciary mind. Aamar is the founder of Modgarden’s tinyFarm. Once a Wall Street banking professional with roles ranging from iBanking to Technology Management, Trading and Risk Management, Aamar found himself stuck and sick from his life and food.
To address his health crisis, Aamar channeled his years spent in business delivery, multi-level negotiation with large institutional clients, and programme management for JPMorgan/Bank America into an entrepreneurial solution to his own problem—modgarden.
Aamar has morphed into a dedicated entrepreneur, single dad, and a passionate believer in the power of home-grown organic food to change your health and the world around you. Aamar isn’t your average tiny farmer. In fact, he’s not your average anything.
Modgarden Compass
Modgarden’s compass points to the intersection between human wellness and nature. We are informed by the beauty and brilliance of plants—from their roots to their leaves, and the interdependence of their rich ecosystem. Each of our team members connect closely with nature, and have co-created a business that strives to build meaningful connections that will help us to optimize our human health.
Modgarden’s purpose serves the common good. We enable people to connect with and trust the food they eat. Our mission is to enable people to grow food with convenient, nature-inspired technology, all while delivering delicious and pure nutrition. Truly organic food grown in soil by people at home, no matter where they live, breeds vitality and builds health. Our aspiration is for people, just like us, to taste the rewards of real food, grown in real soil, and make a deeper connection with our earth. It needs us. We need it.
Advisors
HOWARD MOSKOVITZ
MindGenomics
Full bio here
Howard holds a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from Harvard University and many awards from his scientific endeavours (Scientific Director’s Gold Medal, Charles Coolidge Parlin Marketing Research Award, etc.). Howard brings tremendous insight to the team in terms of food optimization, product development and marketing
HEATHER DUBBLEDAM
Designer of tinyFarm
Full bio here
Heather is a visionary who strives toward environmental sustainability. Indeed, in 2016 she was awarded the Professional Prix de Rome in Architecture for her research in sustainable housing. Her commitment to incorporating sustainable design and systems into each and every one of her projects aligns brilliantly with tinyFarm’s mandate of growing healthy food within the comfort of one’s home.
ALAN TRATNER
Founder Earth Day
Full bio here
The Inventors Workshop International and the Entrepreneur’s Workshop, Director of the Small Business Entrepreneurship Center in California, is a SCORE (US SBA) consultant, and was publisher of the Lightbulb Journal and INVENT! magazines. He is an inventor and serial entrepreneur, with 13 inventions/patents. He has been dubbed the “Minister of Ideas” by the media and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Inc., Entrepreneur, Business Week, TIME, USA Today, America Online Forum, NPR, and has appeared on OPRAH, CNN, Good Morning America, and CNBC. Alan has mentored and assisted thousands of green technology, sustainable ecology and energy companies, and inventors. He was a former Professor of Environment and Energy, participated in the First International United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, in Stockholm Sweden, was a staff member of Environmental Quality Magazine, and helped establish the famous Earth Day. He founded the Environmental Education Group Foundation in 1972 with many supporters, including Nobel prize winner Dennis Gabor.
tinyLab Team
DR. NICK BELLISSIMO
Associate Professor and Director of the Nutrition Discovery Labs in the School of Nutrition at Ryerson University
Full bio here
Nick brings a wealth of knowledge, both from his post-doctoral research at Penn State and from his own research in Toronto, at Ryerson University. Nick’s expertise lies in investigating the complex relationships between food, exercise and health.
Nick’s notable achievements (to list just a few!) include: procuring over $10M in research funds (as a Principal Investigator or collaborating as a Co-Investigator), over 75 peer-reviewed publications and training of over 50 qualified personnel. In addition to providing valuable insight to the modgarden team, he serves as a scientific advisor for government agencies and the food industry.
The Nutrition Discovery Labs (ND Labs) at Ryerson University is home to a robust body of research focused on the physiological and environmental factors that contribute to appetite and energy imbalances with the goal of providing a foundation for advice on diet composition, physical activity, and environment in preventing and managing overeating in children. The ND Labs aims to provide evidence-based dietary, exercise and environment strategies that can fill an important gap that parents, school administrators, and policy makers can use to ensure children grow up happy and avoid a lifetime of poorer health.
DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF AGRICULTURE
Full bio here
We have two key persons working from the Dalhousie Agriculture Department.
Dr. Lord Abbey has a background in Plant Science and Pharmaceutical R&D with a research focus on sustainable food systems and compost quality enhancement for plant fortification and ultimately, assurance of healthy diets and human health and wellbeing.
DESIGN 1ST
modgarden DESIGN TEAM
Full bio here
Spending over 35 years in design, Kevin is a master at assessing risk and opportunity when making the hundreds of decisions required to move a vision into a physical product the customer will love.
Since the late 1980’s Kevin has been on the ground floor of global hardware product innovation, cutting his teeth with Bell Northern Research Labs before moving to Nortel Networks where he worked on the first smartphone development. After founding Design 1st in 1996, Kevin has emerged as one of the most experienced in Canada at stickhandling hardware product development from concept idea to design, engineering and manufacturing set-up.
As CEO and president of Design 1st, clients and staff rely on Kevin’s strategic vision to guide funding, market entry and the full suite of development decisions. The company’s results with new product development speaks for itself. More than 1,000 entrepreneurs, startups and global corporations—such as Motorola, Acer, Stanley Tools and Christie Digital—have brought products ideas to life under Kevin’s guidance.
Kevin is a Professional Engineer, Angel and VC Investor and one of Canada’s leading experts at bringing innovative products to market.
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