Organizers

Meet Our Board Members

Mark Blust

Mark is the V.P. of Operations and Marketing for the Prawnbroker Restaurant Group. Mark is Immediate Past Board Chair for PACE Center for Girls, Co-chairs the Membership Committee as board member of the FRLA and is a vice-chair of the Sanibel Captiva Chamber of Commerce. He is a past president of the Greater Fort Myers Chamber of Commerce and continues to serve on the board. In addition to he has served on the Executive Board of the Bailey Matthews National Shell Museum, and Lee County Sports Organizing Committee. Mark has recently completed a certification in Holistic Nutrition Counseling. As a Ft. Myers native, Mark is intimately involved with organizations and activities that recognize and preserve our special ecosystems and outdoor treasures as well as local charities that work to help the underprivileged in our area. In his spare time, Mark is a cyclist and triathlon competitor, he enjoys cooking, a good book by the pool and is active in the community promoting the benefits of a plant-based diet.

Martin Dekkers
TREASURER

Martin was a Banker for 45 years before retiring …so finance jobs come naturally. He has been working as a volunteer for many non-profit organizations even longer than he was a Banker…so volunteering comes naturally too. His other passions are travel and photography. Martin is also passionate about the whole food plant-based lifestyle because it has made such a positive difference in his health. The only downside is not enough people know the power of plants….a secret that needs to be shared! In that vein Martin is excited to be part of Lifestyle Solutions Healthy Planet Inc.

Marlies Laaper

Marlies has a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Business Information Systems, a Post Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance & Investment and a Masters in Human Resources Management. She spent the first 18 years of her career working in the IT industry; first as a software developer, then in various HR management roles and finally, as the COO of a publicly traded IT company. From there she joined a group of venture capitalists where she worked on various business turnaround projects over the next 12 years culmination in the turnaround of a Mortgage Bank during which time, she was the Secretary & Treasurer of the Bank. She now runs her own restaurant business where she is able to live her passion of good food and helping people switch to a whole food plant-based diet which is good for their health and that of the planet.

Kathy Reynaert Randall

Kathy-Reynaert-Randall graduated from of Wayne State University in 1971 and completed post graduate work at Oakland University and Florida State University in 1974. She adopted the pillars of LIFESTYLE MEDICINE focusing on a plant based diet in 1978 raising 6 healthy plant strong children accordingly after living and working at Uchee Pines Lifestyle Medicine Center in Seale, Alabama, Eden Valley Lifestyle Medicine Center in Loveland, Colorado and Living Springs Lifestyle Medicine Center in upstate New York for the next several years. She currently teaches FOOD FOR LIFE classes for PCRM, DIABETES UNDONE classes from Life and Health Institute, FULL PLATE LIVING from Ardmore Institute and is the area developer for the state of Florida for Lifestyle Medicine Institute and their recently created premier chronic disease reversal program PIVIO HEALTH.

Dr. Marcela Trevino

Dr. Marcela Trevino is originally from Mexico City, where she earned a B.S. degree in Biochemistry and Microbiology at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). She then pursued graduate studies in the USA, earning a M.S. degree in Biochemistry and a Ph.D. degree in Molecular Biology at New Mexico State University (NMSU). She then spent two years learning yoga and meditation in India, which she loves and practices to date. Marcela has worked as a professor or as a post-doctoral research fellow at various universities and colleges in Mexico, Switzerland, England, and several states in the USA, namely New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Florida. She is also a freelance Spanish-English translator and interpreter, as well as a writer and editor of scientific papers. Marcela has lived in Fort Myers, FL for over 15 years, where she first learned about whole food, plant-based (WFPB) nutrition, thanks to Lee Health’s community education programs. This inspired her to begin teaching Human Nutrition courses at FSW State College, which she has done continuously since 2016. Marcela is passionate about spreading the knowledge of WFPB nutrition due to its amazing benefits not just for human health, but also for ecosystem health and for the protection of animal rights.