Our Team
Executive Director
Brian Hart, M.Ed
Brian is a highly experienced educator with over twenty-five years in the field as a teacher, administrator, consultant, and advocate for school change in both the public and private sectors. Brian specializes in working with organizations to help them create immersive, hands-on, experiential programs designed to transform thinking and build problem-solving skills. He is a former Outward Bound instructor, wilderness EMT, plant-based chef, middle school principal, and carpenter. When not educating others about the benefits of whole food, plant-based nutrition, Brian is a committed ultra-endurance athlete with four Ironman finishes to his name, among other run, bike, and ski events. Brian graduated from Dickinson College with a BA in History. He earned his M.Ed. in teaching and curriculum design from Ursuline College. Brian also holds a Rouxbe Plant-Based Cooking Certification and a Montessori Adolescent Educators endorsement.
Our Facilitators
Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., MD
Dr. Esselstyn received his B.A. from Yale University and his M.D. from Western Reserve University. In 1956, pulling the No. 6 oar as a member of the victorious United States rowing team, he was awarded a gold medal at the Olympic Games. He was trained as a surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic and at St. George’s Hospital in London. In 1968, as an Army surgeon in Vietnam, he was awarded the Bronze Star. Dr. Esselstyn has been associated with the Cleveland Clinic since 1968. During that time, he has served as President of the Staff and as a member of the Board of Governors. He chaired the Clinic’s Breast Cancer Task Force and headed its Section of Thyroid and Parathyroid Surgery. He is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology. In 1991, Dr. Esselstyn served as President of the American Association of Endocrine Surgeons, and also organized the first National Conference on the Elimination of Coronary Artery Disease. In 1997, he chaired a follow-up conference, the Summit on Cholesterol and Coronary Disease. In 2005, he became the first recipient of the Benjamin Spock Award for Compassion in Medicine. His scientific publications number over 150. In 1995 he published his bench mark long-term nutritional research arresting and reversing coronary artery disease in severely ill patients.
Ann Crile Esselstyn, M.Ed.
Ann is a relentlessly energetic and creative advocate for the plant-based, whole-food way of life. She has devoted herself to inventing recipes to prevent and reverse heart disease in support of the research of her husband, Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, Jr. Ann never stops looking for ways to bring that important agenda to delicious life, devising ever more practical and powerful ways to shop, cook, and engage even the most reluctant eaters in the plant-perfect diet. Ann is the author of the recipe section of Dr. Esselstyn’s bestselling book, Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease, and co-author of The Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease Cookbook with her daughter, Jane Esselstyn. She is a graduate of Smith College and holds a Masters in Education from Wheelock College. Ann taught English and History for 27 years at Laurel School in Cleveland, Ohio. At the same time, she juggled the raising of four children. When not in the kitchen, Ann counsels patients, lectures around the world on how to prepare and eat plant-based foods, and spends time with her ten plant-based grandchildren.
Ann Bingham, MD
Anne lives in the river town of Higganum, CT with her husband Ted Esselstyn and their three mostly grown children. Anne has worked as a general OBGYN in Middlesex County for over 20 years. She received her BA from Yale University where she captained the Women’s Ice Hockey teams in 1985 and 1986. She received her MD from the University of Vermont. She completed her Residency at MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland. Family, dogs, pond hockey, gardens and fiction keep Anne busy outside the office. She has earned a Certificate in Plant Based Nutrition from the T.Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies. She understands first-hand the power of nutrition to heal and maintain good health in the broader population.
Jane Esselstyn, RN
Jane is a fresh and charismatic voice on the plant-based, whole food diet. She brings her perspective and passion as a woman, nurse and mother to creating on-ramps to the plant-based way of life. Jane is an avid and inventive designer of plant-based recipes and the co-author of The Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease Cookbook (Avery, 2014) with her next-door neighbor and mom, Ann. And she created the recipe section of Plant-Strong, and The Engine 2 Seven Day Rescue by her brother, Rip Esselstyn. Jane presents her work, research, and recipes across the country. Her presentations, food demonstrations, samples and food parties bring clarity of understanding and a can-do attitude to the power of plant-based eating. The Journal of Pediatrics recently published the study she worked on with the Cleveland Clinic observing the effect of a plant-based diet on pediatric obesity and hypercholesterolemia. Jane met her husband and fellow educator, Brian Hart, while working as a field instructor for Outward Bound. They have three plant-based children. Jane graduated from the University of Michigan, where she competed nationally as a recruited swimmer and rower, and earned a B.S. in Nursing from Kent State University.
Rip Esselstyn
Rip was born in upstate New York, raised in Cleveland, Ohio, and educated at the University of Texas at Austin, where he was a three-time All-American swimmer. After graduation, Rip spent a decade as one of the premier triathletes in the world. Rip then joined the Austin Fire Department where he introduced his passion for the world’s strongest nutrition to the Engine 2 Firehouse in order to rescue a firefighting brother’s health. Twelve years after joining the fire department, Rip turned in his bunker gear and picked up a pen to write The Engine 2 Diet, which shows the irrefutable connection between a plant-based diet and optimal health. It became a national best-seller, teaching people how they can get in the driver seat and undo the damage caused by the Standard American Diet. He has since written three more books including The Engine 2 Cookbook with his sister Jane Esselstyn, and the #1 New York Times best-seller, Plant-Strong, which arms readers with the 36 most powerful facts that prove, once and for all, that a plant-based diet can save your life. Rip also wrote The Engine 2 Seven-Day Rescue Diet after leading thousands of people to discover the power of plant-based nutrition while hosting Engine 2 Immersions. Rip and his wife Jill Kolasinski live in Austin and are raising three plant-based children.
Elizabeth Winings, DNP, APRN, PMHNP-BC, DipACLM
Dr. Winings is ANCC Board Certified as a Family Mental Health-Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner. She completed her undergraduate and graduate education in Nursing at the University of Florida. She also has advance training in Plant-Based nutrition, completing her doctoral internship in nutrition and lifestyle medicine at the True North Health Center in Santa Rosa, CA. Dr. Winings specializes in the relationship between diet, lifestyle, and mental health. Working with children and families, she practices with the understanding that health is composed of physical, mental, and emotional experiences. Her time working as a surgical nurse and emergency department nurse inspired her pursuit of practice in mental health and plant based nutrition. She is also a full time assistant professor at Jacksonville University’s Keigwin School of Nursing.
The Board
Samuel Osborne, Esq.
Seattle, Washington
Sam Osborne is a corporate finance, transactions, and governance attorney in Seattle. He has held the position of Director Assistant General Counsel at Puget Sound Energy since 2004, acting as in-house counsel and assistant secretary of regulated electric and gas utility. This position directly involves him in asset and entity acquisition and disposition (particularly power generation and pipeline capacity purchase or contracting), capital markets and commercial finance, financial reporting and SEC compliance, corporate governance, and management of PSE’s legal staff. He is a graduate of Yale University and the University of Virginia School of Law. Prior to joining PSE, he worked for Bogle & Gates PLLC and Dorsey & Whitney LLP. Sam and his wife Michelle have two sons.
Jill Kolasinski
Austin, Texas
Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., MD
Pepper Pike, Ohio
Beth Summers, Phd.
Austin, Texas
Douglas Wang, MBA
Shaker Heights, Ohio
Lisa Fedorovich, Esq.
Hudson, Ohio
Lisa Fedorovich retired from a rewarding career; first, as a litigation attorney and later, at McKinsey & Company. Currently, she is leading her best life pursuing labors of love. She sings in The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus and is president of the Chorus, chairing the Chorus Operating Committee. She is a trustee of the Musical Arts Association (operating The Cleveland Orchestra), where she is vice-chair of the Education Committee. She is a trustee of her alma mater, Hathaway Brown School, where she chairs the Advancement Committee. Additionally, she is on the Ohio board of Hope for Henry Foundation to improve the inpatient hospital experience for seriously ill children, helping this organization expand its footprint in Ohio. At McKinsey, Lisa led external relations globally for its flagship practice area, Strategy and Corporate Finance. She practiced law at Thompson Hine, and Squire Sanders (now Squire Patton Boggs). Skills threaded throughout her career include team and organizational leadership, and advocacy and content creation in written and oral communications. Lisa’s interests and passions include whole food plant-based cooking and nutrition, riding her Peloton, and creating a pleasant environment at home. She resides in Hudson, Ohio with her husband, Rick