Management Team
The Vegan Leaders network is managed by a group of volunteers who “get” the corporate vegan niche – after all, we all have corporate day jobs. Meet our team!
Darina Janovova (formerly Bockman)
Founder & President
Darina Janovova (formerly Bockman) founded Vegan Leaders in Corporate Management in 2014 with a vision to empower vegan employees in Fortune 500 companies.
She has worked in corporate finance for over 20 years, earning accolades for outstanding leadership of major projects and transformations. She currently works as a Vice President, Global Finance Special Projects at CBRE. A natural organizer and “doer”, she is fiercely passionate about self-improvement and effectiveness.
Born in Slovakia, she speaks multiple languages and devotes her free time to pro bono animal and environmental advocacy. She lives in Dallas, Texas.
Director of Technology
Anastasia joined the team in 2018 and after initially joining Vegan Leaders as a coach, swiftly became our Director of Technology due to her unbeatable tech know-how.
She has an extensive career in Information Technology where she has led and been engaged in enterprise-wide projects and strategic programs. She has consolidated and transitioned businesses to new technology platforms, enabled business strategies and overseen transformational IT projects.
Born and raised in Russia, Anastasia currently lives in the south of the United States. Since adopting plant-based lifestyle in 2013, Anastasia has acquired a integrative nutrition health certification and is passionate about nutrition as medicine. A nature lover, Anastasia enjoys spending time outdoors with her family and two rescue dogs, travel, dancing, ice skating.
VLCI Coach
Yanina was born and raised in Argentina, but moved to The Netherlands in 2015, where she currently lives with her husband and cats.
She joined the team in 2021 as coach for VLCI, later she also became a board member too.
Her background is in finance and general business management, currently working as Director of Corporate Operations in South Pole, a leading climate project developer and global climate action expert.
In her free time she enjoys outdoor walks and any interaction with nature; surprising her non-vegan friends with homemade vegan delights; reading philosophy books and doing yoga.
Marketing Director
Gabriella is a Chartered Marketer and a passionate ethical vegan. With 13 years of experience in marketing, she assisted over 200 clients and businesses to achieve their marketing, branding, digital, and revenue objectives, while managing projects, marketing, and design teams as well as freelancers, suppliers, clients, and stakeholders.
She studied Business Sustainability Management at University of Cambridge to expand her knowledge and experience on the subject and to turn her keen interest into a professional qualification – to prove that veganism and sustainability in business doesn’t just consider the environment and people, but it is also economically profitable.
She works with large corporations and small businesses through her own marketing consultancy, Global Lemon .
Vice President
Michael Coleman was one of the first to join VLCM back in 2015, as a collaborator on the Vegan Playbook project.
His 20-year background is rooted in education programming, content design, and publishing. Michael brings together industry experts to create transformative education programs. One hallmark initiative is a three-course series on sustainability in commercial real estate, which is helping drive a carbon-centric industry toward a net-zero ethic.
In his spare time, Michael enjoys practicing and teaching martial arts, spending time with his wife, daughter, and two rescue dogs, and advocating for a vegan lifestyle.
Talent Director
Emma Osborne serves on the Board of Vegan Leaders having joined as a coach in 2018.
With over 15 years corporate experience, she then launched the world’s first vegan recruitment agency named Citizen Kind and is supporting sustainable, ethical and vegan businesses to accelerate their growth through finding them exceptional talent and encouraging the adoption of a compassionate lifestyle.
Now based in London, UK (following a stint in Singapore), Emma works to help talented senior executives find fulfilling employment which aligns with their values and find them more purpose-filled careers.
Membership Management Director
Sandra oversees and handles the Vegan Leaders membership process, in addition to serving on the Vegan Leaders Board of Directors. Originally from the US, Sandra ran a management consulting practice in Sydney, Australia and now lives in Doha, Middle East. Her areas of expertise are operations management and corporate strategy with a focus on feasibility studies and returns analyses.
Sandra is passionate about embracing the vegan principles in all areas of her life, and particularly about bridging the gap between being vegan and working in the traditional corporate environment. In her spare time, Sandra enjoys practicing yoga, cooking, gardening and advocating for animal rights.
Technology Associate
Audrey is an Information Technology professional based in the Albany, New York area. Her experience has focused on managing and supporting IT systems in the legal profession, website design and development, and supporting nonprofits and vegan businesses through IT and website-related projects. A passionate animal rights supporter, she is a life-long vegetarian and has been vegan since 2009. Her hobbies include writing, water sports, photography, and playing ukulele.
Director
A vegan for more than 30 years, Grady has founded and served on the boards of multiple non-profit and profit making corporations. With degrees in education and psychology, his career focus has consistently been on initiatives that promote both human and planetary health. He is passionate about encouraging low-on-the-food chain, organically grown, fair trade or equal exchange certified eating as a way that each of us can make a positive difference environmentally, socially and economically. Grady currently resides in Poughkeepsie, NY.
Board Member; Marketer
Marketer and strategist with a mission of driving sustainable food choices. Specialist in food innovations, food tech, and business strategy, with a strong foundation in classic brand management and marketing communication. Previously, held a leadership position in the marketing team at Burger King CEE, currently working for Just Eat Takeaway.com, a leading food delivery service.
Volunteer With Us!
Vegan Leaders would not exist without the goodwill and time donated by volunteers over the years and we are always looking for willing helping hands in the following area:
Regional Engagement Manager (Volunteer)
Vegan Leaders is looking for volunteers to serve as focused member engagement managers in their designated region (e.g. Asia, Latin America, Middle East and Africa, Central & Eastern Europe, UK, US New York City, US Central States etc).
Vegan Leaders have 7,000+ members around the globe who are mostly vegans working in large corporations. In some regions, these members may feel isolated and not have a vibrant vegan network. While Vegan Leaders provide members with various tools and offerings, those are mostly global or virtual. A dedicated Engagement Manager brings together members who are geographically close and share a regional identify via tailored discussions, knowledge of upcoming events etc.
In the Regional Engagement Manager role, you would look after a specific region (e.g. Latin America, Central & Eastern Europe, US New York City etc). which could have from several dozens to several hundred Vegan Leaders members. You would:
- Maintain regular contact with the members (by email or other tools), offer support and actively connect them with similar members in the same region/company,
- Engage them with vegan news and events happening in their region (the information would be provided to you by our central team but you’d also run your own process to discover vegan happenings to alert your member community to),
- Direct local members to Vegan Leaders offerings and tools
- Organize or encourage in-person events
In this role, you should follow the general framework and agreed objectives but have freedom in the manner of communicating with members or choosing the engagement strategy. The Regional Engagement Managers would regularly meet to compare notes and share effective strategies.
The minimum time commitment is 2 hours per week for the duration of 6 months, to include meetings with the central leadership team.
Qualifications
And ideal candidate will be a natural, self-driven people connector who thrives on organizing and bringing people together. Proficient English skills are a must. A business degree and/or work experience is preferred. Experience with project management, change management or event planning would be a big plus.
The candidates should understand dynamics in a typical corporate environment and have some knowledge of the vegan/plant-based movement, to be able to select and prepare content fitting our audience.
Your own laptop/computer with reliable high-speed internet connection is required.
You would ideally be based in the region you’ll manage to understand the languages and local nuances. However, this role could be held remotely (for example if you are in the US but have a strong interest in supporting members on another continent).
Commitment
Flexible time commitment of at least 2 hours and no more than 5 hours per week is expected. You need to be reachable by email when needed, and will be expected to meet agreed deadlines and to join agreed calls.
This is an unpaid position. During this volunteer experience, you should be able to acquire marketable skills. You will also have direct access to very senior professionals who are part of our leadership team, to request mentoring, career advice, skill coaching and similar. At the end of your successful volunteer assignment, you will be eligible for a Board position if interested. We can also provide a letter of recommendation or reference for future jobs.