Ashley entered the regulated cannabis market in late 2013 after holding positions in finance, education, logistics and marketing. Shortly thereafter, Ashley joined one of the largest vertically integrated cannabis businesses in Colorado as the Head of Marketing, Operations and Sales. Ashley recognized that Colorado was quickly becoming the model for other States and founded Point7 in 2015 to offer support services to new operators facing the daunting learning curve she had experienced just two years prior. Since then, Point7 has rapidly expanded with offices in Ohio, Colorado, California and soon Massachusetts. The team has supported Clients in 70+ markets worldwide, offering a breadth of services. Ashley is also the author of Breaking the Grass Ceiling: Women, Weed and Business, published in 2017 and released at SXSW (2017). She earned her B.S. in Business Administration from Northeastern University, with concentrations in marketing and sociology and her Master of Arts degree.
Gary Cohen is the CEO of Cova Software, an award-winning, seed-to-sale compliant POS and Inventory Management solution designed to streamline cannabis retail. Cohens focus has been driving the company’s overall strategy including its go-to-market plans, vision, and strategic development. Since joining the cannabis industry in 2016 and launching Cova commercially in 4q17, Cohen has led Cova to dominate the enterprise sector for dispensary Point of Sale, while forging client relationships with hundreds of single store retailers across North America. Today, Cohen leads seminars and delivers speeches on topics including compliance, retail technology, sophisticated business operations, cannabis banking laws and more at some of the industry’s largest conferences and events, including the NCIA Seed to Sale Show and MJBizCon. While Cova has become the predominate thought leader for cannabis retailing, Cohen is a leading voice for educating new cannabis entrepreneurs to build their own successful brands.
Liz has a wealth of branding, positioning, and messaging strategy development expertise across a broad range of product categories and segments. At CBD Marketing, she has spearheaded brand revitalization, acquisition and retention efforts for leading national and global companies that are now aligning with cannabis markets. Her interest in social monitoring and social listening underlines the importance of the marketing insights it can provide to brands and companies. Liz speaks nationally on marketing topics, including on integrated digital programs that help attract new customers, maximize lifetime value, and increase sales, retention and loyalty. Prior to joining CBD, Liz served as Executive Vice President for Columbian Advertising, now FCB.
Lolita is a Registered Nurse with over 15 years of experience. She is the founder of Cansoom, a trusted network of licensed medical professionals that advise consumers about healthy cannabis consumption. Cansoom’s mission is to make cannabis consumption easy and acceptable for everyone. She is an Amazon best selling author and has published three cannabis-related books.
Sarah Leamon is a criminal defence lawyer and founder of Sarah Leamon Law Group in Vancouver, B.C. Sarah specializes in impaired driving and cannabis law. In 2017, Sarah was invited to appear before the House of Commons in Ottawa to discuss the legal implications of changes to Canadas Criminal Code impaired driving laws. She has been sought out by the House of Commons and the Senate for her legal insight on multiple occasions since then. Sarah regularly write for the Georgia Straight, the Huffington Post, the Daily Hive, the Her(b) Life and the Cannabis Life Network. She is also involved in numerous non-profit organizations, including PACE Society, where she acts as Board Chair, The Coven Club and The Women’s Association of Criminal Lawyers, which she founded in 2018. Sarah was nominated as one of the 25 Most Influential Lawyers in Canada by Canadian Lawyer Magazine in both 2018 and 2019 and won Business in Vancouver’s 2018 Forty Under 40 Award.
Tyler’s knowledge of the medical and recreational cannabis industry started in 2011 after serving four years in the U.S. Army as an Infantry SGT in The Old Guard. He began by working in his family’s dispensary and cultivation operation — one of the first operations in Colorado — and has managed cultivation and served as Dispensary Director. Tyler later expanded his knowledge and experience through technical and operational consulting at a leading industry software company. Tyler has gained experience in the field, working in nearly every cannabis market in the U.S. and internationally. He has trained and started up over 300 cannabis businesses and opened the very first dispensaries in 6 states. Tyler serves on the NCIA’s newly-formed Retail Committee, which focuses on best practices for operating a retail storefront in the cannabis industry. He enjoys educating audiences at high-profile cannabis events and conferences across the country.
Keith Olson is Executive Vice President, U.S. Business Development and Sales Lead for Merrco Payments. Keith has operated within the payments ecosystem for over 20 years. Throughout his career Keith has directly participated in nearly every aspect of U.S. acquiring and brings dynamic knowledge and marketplace intimacy. Prior to joining Merrco, Keith was an Executive Director with J.P. Morgan Chase where he built and led sales teams to launch and scale innovative solutions, including ChaseNet and the complimentary Chase Pay product, along with the complete array of traditional merchant services. Additionally, he drove 3rd party Partnerships and the assimilation of JPMC’s WePay acquisition. Previous roles include Director of U.S. Financial Institutions and N.A. eCommece with Moneris, Senior Vice President of Vanitv (now Worldpay), National Relationship Management lead for SCAN/eFunds, General Manager for Harris Bank’s merchant reseller channel and front-line distribution experience as Branch President of a community bank in the city of Chicago, Mid Town Bank, now part of the PNC enterprise.
Shoshanna’s background in cannabis began on the civil liberties side, lobbying for groups such as the ACLU and providing analysis for the state on issues such as arrests in schools and prisoner re-entry. She has sat on a Juvenile Review Board employing a Balanced & Restorative Approach to Justice, legislative bodies such as sentencing task forces, commissions & oversight committees charged with implementing criminal justice reform measures. Shoshanna’s direct service experience draws on years spent providing home hospice care and teaching self-care to at-risk youth and professionals in human services. Shoshanna has twice been a guest lecturer for the New Paradigms in Law class offered at the Touro Law Center in Central Islip, NY, has lectured for Pepperdine University’s Department of Public Policy and for Rutgers University School of Law in Camden, NJ. She was a contributing author to Lawyers as Changemakers: The Global Integrative Law Movement, published by the ABA in 2016, she pens a monthly column in the cannabis magazine Elevate NV, and is a regular contributor to Conscious Company Media on the subject of “conscious” cannabis from a law, policy and business perspective.
Troy Alexander-EL, MD was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland and is a graduate of American University of Antigua Medical School. She trained in Internal Medicine in a combined primary care program at John H. Stroger Hospital and Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois. Dr. Alexander-EL has been practicing for the last several years as a Primary Care Physician for various underserved populations on throughout Chicago and the South Suburbs She established Higher Level Healthcare in response to the lack of opportunities for minorities, specifically people of color, to obtain Medical Cannabis without the stigma created because of the “war on drugs”.
Josh Zuke has been a Project Manager for dozens of cannabis licensing applications across the United States and in several countries internationally, including all elements of the supply chain, and has created hemp- and cannabis-specific financial models and business plans. Josh has won a license for his clients in nearly every competitive application process that he has participated in. He is skilled at process improvement and operations scalability, and helps our clients on their path to success by solving problems before they arise. Josh brings a deep understanding of fundamental business and economic principles that lead to successful projects across a variety of industries. He was invited to Washington, D.C. to present to a panel of leading economists regarding the factors that influence market prices for oil and oil derivatives. He enjoys educating audiences and leading discussions that facilitate ongoing improvements for the new and ever-evolving cannabis industry.
In 2009, Mike interned on an organic farm in Gravel Switch, Kentucky and founded Growing Warriors—the first veteran-oriented food security project with a mission to equip, asset and train military veterans in production agriculture to feed themselves, their families, and their communities. In 2014, Lewis began farming hemp as part of the Kentucky Pilot Program. With the support of Fibershed and Patagonia, Lewis became the first federally permitted hemp farmer in the U.S. since prohibition. He has won numerous awards for his work in agriculture and farming,—the 2013 and 2014 Local Food Hero Award, the 2015 Wendell Berry New Agrarian, Kentucky Colonel Award, the 2014 Yahoo People That Made the World a Better Place award, and the GRIST 50 award. In 2017, Lewis co-founded Third Wave Farms—an industrial hemp company-based Livingston, Kentucky. He also serves as Board Director of Growing Warriors, serves as Board Member of the Hemp Industries Association (HIA), is a former member of the KY Hemp Commission, where he was instrumental in crafting Kentucky and Federal legislation surrounding the newly passed 2019 Farm Bill.
Bob has 20+ years’ experience in all phases of public relations, including managing social media and content marketing engagements. At CBD Marketing, he works with national and global clients in manufacturing, financial services, education and food ingredients that are aligning with the cannabis business space. Prior to CBD Marketing, he worked at KSA Public Relations and is also expert in government relations, working to communicate with local and state lawmakers on behalf of various businesses and institutions. Bob has also worked at large news organizations, is an award-winning journalist and a speaker at national conferences.
The firm’s founder, Dan Shapiro, has 30 years of experience in the areas of land use, zoning, governmental relations, municipal law, and civil litigation. He has represented a wide variety of clients including: developers, businesses as well as governmental entities and closely advises his clients on complex matters including, securing zoning entitlements before plan commissions, zoning boards, village, towns and critics. In litigation matters, Mr. Shapiro has also represented his clients at all judicial levels in Illinois and Federal courts Mr. Shapiro has been a frequent lecturer on issues such as of land use, public/private partnerships, zoning, and local government relations. He is currently a Village Trustee for the Village of Deerfield, Illinois and has served as an adjunct professor at Chicago Kent College of Law where he taught land use to 2nd and 3rd year law students. .
Amanda Ostrowitz is a regulatory attorney and entrepreneur who’s identified a need for a user-friendly, scalable platform to research regulations and laws in the cannabis industry. Amanda founded RegsTechnology and its current product, CannaRegs, as a tool to aid attorneys, business people, and governments with localized tracking of regulatory issues. Although RegsTechnology has its origins in covering the dynamics of cannabis regulation, Amanda has created an innovative framework that can be applied more broadly to other emerging, hyper-localized regulatory issues. Prior to conceiving, developing and founding RegsTechnology, Amanda worked as a bank examiner in the Denver branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. Amanda is a New England native who moved to Colorado in 2004 to attend Colorado College where she earned a B.A. in Economics and went on to receive her Juris Doctor from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law in 2013.
Jay Matos is one of the longest and strongest supporters of the Nevada cannabis industry; he is a well-known cannabis consultant with over 15 prestigious clients, he is a support for and pass SB374 with Senator Tick Segerblom, bringing legalized medical marijuana to the patients of Nevada who needed it.
Cimone Casson is a cannabis financial planner and the owner of Cannas Capital an insurance company that focuses on the protection needs of cannabis and crafting brewing businesses. Cannas Capital produces tailor made insurance portfolios for legal marijuana businesses and craft brewers in order for them to operate with the same peace of mind as other companies despite their unique risk. Insurance helps solidify the businesses structure and mitigate risk. With Cannas Capital, companies can find broad insurance protection including employee benefits, delivery fleets and crop and inventory. Cannas Capital supports economic empowerment within the context of the cannabis industry. Insurance licenses held: Life, health, variable products, property and casualty. Membership: Minorities 4 Medical Marijuana
Drake is Founder and CEO of PRØHBTD, a first of its kind cannabis ecosystem that includes a brand creation and product development platform complemented by a content studio and the first and largest multi-platform video distribution network in the cannabis industry reaching an available audience of 100+ million people. As a serial entrepreneur, Drake previously founded a Grammy winning talent management firm with multi-platinum creative clients and a lifestyle branding and marketing consultancy that serviced premier companies including Warner Bros, SONY, Universal, Microsoft, Budweiser, Walmart, Pepsi, Amazon, Target, CBS, Complex, Time, Conde Nast, Pandora, Simon and Schuster, Jagermeister, Red Bull and many others. Drake is recognized as a cannabis industry thought leader and has been featured on CNN, Advertising Week, Variety, Huffpost, Techcrunch, Billboard, Digiday, and The Wall Street Journal. He is also a featured speaker at events including YPO, CWCBE, ICBC, OMBC, Green Table Global, O’Cannabiz and New West Summit. PRØHBTD is venture backed with $13 Million in funding and has offices in Los Angeles, New York, Toronto and Vancouver.
Kim is an innovative, results-focused national strategic retail executive with an extensive record of success driving operational excellence to grow organizational footprint and transform underachieving regions into the nations’ top producers. Recognized for creating and implementing aggressive, comprehensive business and sales plans and a collaborative, hands-on approach to leadership, Kim motivates and inspires highly dedicated, accountable teams who consistently over deliver short- and long-term goals. ◆Led growth of Converse stores from 62 to 117, including 55 new openings and 4 new districts. ◆Turned around Bath & Body Works’ bottom ranked region to #1 in the nation within a year.
Jeff Lowenfels
Teaming with Jeff Lowenfels
Lord of the Roots, Best selling Author, Organic Cannabis Advocate. Attorney
Alaska
Vanessa Kelly strategizes with employers to minimize their legal risks and optimize the employee experience, to help companies focus on their business.
Clients partner with Vanessa Kelly when looking to create and foster respectful workplaces that comply with national and state employment standards. Vanessa counsels her management clients about their employee relations concerns. This counseling may include any manner of employment issues. For example: terminations, accommodating disabilities, workplace misconduct, protecting key employees and proprietary information, reductions in force, and using policies to avoid disputes. She creates employment and other transactional agreements to meet her client’s goals, including securing long-term executive employment, restructuring or reorganization, retention agreements, separation agreements and covenants restricting use of confidential information and deterring unfair competition.
Vanessa’s work with a variety of industries means she has the broad knowledge her clients need, while maintaining her deep roots within labor & employment. Industries include healthcare, insurance, professional service firms, manufacturers, airlines, auto dealers, professional organization (like accounting and law firms) , religious congregations, universities and K-12 schools, and executives.
When a client finds themselves a party to a lawsuit, Vanessa’s years of trial experience are invaluable, but her internal investigative work is the key to keeping these suits to a minimum. Vanessa investigates and then guides the client through the investigative process. As part of her preventative strategy, she trains HR teams, managers, and employees on a variety of employment topics. She assists clients with audits and other administrative agency proceedings. As a certified Title IX investigator Vanessa received training on trauma-informed investigation techniques and completed course work to serve as a Title IX hearing officer. In this capacity she provides counseling and compliance services for her university clients.
Vanessa’s pragmatic approach to counseling clients recognizes that employees and diverse teams are essential to business success, so she partners with her clients to create inclusive, equitable, and diverse workplaces. As a close confidante to business owners, chief executive officers, general counsel, employment counsel and HR directors, she provides sage advice based on open communication to achieve their objectives making her the collaborative leader her clients need.
Vanessa currently serves as the Co-Chair of the firm’s BOLD initiative to promote women within the firm, the legal profession, and the business community. Vanessa also hosts a podcast series, “Leading in a Lonely World: Conversations with Transformative Leaders,” where she interviews community leaders who share their thoughts on leadership against the backdrop of a tumultuous world.
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William Burch is a serial entrepreneur, consultant and legislative advocate. At Greene Acres Consulting Group where he serves as CEO. He has been working with legislators and the Illinois community stakeholders to ensure the Adult Use Cannabis legislation includes measurable equity inclusion for communities with a goal to encourage, empower, assist and sustain disadvantaged minority businesses and entrepreneurs looking to enter the adult use cannabis industry. With years of career success in project management and business development, Mr. Burch’s business agility stems from working in industries that are rapidly growing and evolving. Mr. Burch received a Bachelor of Science degree, with a concentration in Business Management from Robert Morris University. Known for applying proven business tactics to uncharted territory, Mr. Burch has created a diverse consulting network at Greene Acres Consulting Group with high-profile partners. Mr. Burch has received multiple recognition’s for his professional accomplishments.
Marc Harvill holds degrees in Marketing and Spanish from PSU and an MBA from Washburn University. He started his career in retail pharmacy management and later worked for one of the largest privately owned pharmacy technology and robotic companies in the world. He had his start in the cannabis industry back in 2013 when he and his uncle, Brett Roper, assisted Andy Williams (owner of Medicine Man, a 45,000 square foot cultivation with processing and five dispensaries throughout Denver) with launching Medicine Man Technologies (Symbol MDCL), a cannabis consultancy in Denver. Today Marc is the Senior Consultant and Business Development Manager at MMT and is responsible for following emerging markets, managing client relationships, driving and developing business, and assisting shareholders and brokers. For the past six years Marc has been with MMT he, with his company, has assisted clients with state cannabis licensing, design, setup, training, and roll out and deployment in seventeen states including Puerto Rico, Canada, Colombia, South Africa, and Germany. The company has help clients win 26 licenses total in PA, OH, IA, CO, IL, NV, MD, PR, AR and HI.
Derek is the Chief Growth Officer at EcoGen Laboratories. The company started in 2016 with a team of 8 and $800,000 in sales. In 2016, EcoGen did $36 million in revenue with never taking outside funds and growing 100% off earnings. Previously, Derek was CEO and Co-Founder at Healing Ventures, where he successfully brought several leading brands in the CBD space to market. EcoGn has manufactured products on the shelves as Sephora, CVS, etc. One of the brands we brought to market recently was acquired for $1 billion. Derek is a brand management professional who leverages all elements of an integrated marketing plan, through concept, development, and building iconic brands by orchestrating successful campaign deployment on a global and regional scale. Derek is responsible for the viral launches of multiple apps via strategic partnerships, experiential events and celebrity endorsements. After graduating from UCLA, Derek was an Actor/Writer/Producer and Stunt Performer. Derek has played opposite Michael C. Hall and Julia Stiles (Dexter), Esai Morales & Raymond Cruz (Los Americans), Bruce Willis (Mauraders), and Robert DeNiro (Heist).
Narbe leads business development, strategy and the day-to-day operations. Prior joining Canopy Rivers, Narbe was a senior associate at OMERS Ventures, one of the most prominent technology venture capital funds in Canada- working on deals such as Shopify and Hootsuite). Narbe has introduced a highly thesis driven approach to investment (a silicon valley venture capital model employed in the tech industry) at Canopy Rivers – looking at gaps in the industry and how/by whom those will be filled. Canopy Rivers has identified 13 verticals within the cannabis value chain, and further broken that down into another 97 sub-verticals within which to deploy capital – mainly playing in the space between early seed and pre-public operations. As a result, Narbe has quickly become an expert on emerging trends in the cannabis industry. Narbe would tell you we are in the “picks and shovels” stage– with ancillary businesses powering the industry. But that tide is quickly turning – what is emerging as the next big wave is brands (with big pharma and mass market not far behind).
A graduate of the John Marshall Law School, Florence has been a successful business consultant for over 13 years. She has a Masters in Business Administration with a focus on Entrepreneurship from DePaul University and received a Bachelors in Business Administration from Howard University. She worked for the City of Chicago, DePaul University, the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce and had her own law practice before becoming the Chief Executive Officer for truCrowd Illinois, the only intrastate equity crowdfunding platform in Illinois and Chief Operating Officer of Fundanna, the only marijuana based crowdfunding platform. Additionally, Florence is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago where she teaches classes in Business Ethics. Florence has lived and studied in Chicago, Illinois, Washington, DC and Berlin, Germany.
Liz is Co-Founder and President of BDS Analytics. She founded BDS Analytics with partner Roy Bingham after recognizing that the nascent industry lacked the kind of sophisticated, sales-based data that is both commonplace and essential in other, more established industries. BDS Analytics is now active across the US and globally, and working with the top brands, retailers and organizations interested in the cannabis, hemp and CBD industry. Prior to starting BDS Analytics, Liz spent her career working for some of the leading names in retail sales tracking, consumer insights and market research. She is a widely recognized authority in retail sales analysis, consumer insights and strategic consulting.
Srinivasa Reddy, having diversified educational background from agriculture, cancer research, plant molecular and genetics, system biology, synthetic biology, controlled agriculture engineering, computer science from various universities around the globe. By dedicating his life for the passion to understand the effect of environment on plants and the use of positive effect on the secondary metabolites on human and animal health (plant based food, medicine, useful chemical compounds, preservatives and highly commercial valuable compounds). He served as board of directors, CEO, CSO, and worked as consultant for several companies across the North America. Now actively being partnered and employed with Leaf Cross Biomedical Inc and Phytoteq and serving as COO. Short and long term goals of the company and the team is to serve the humanity with ethics by working with great passionate knowledgeable team.
Tony Gallo is the Managing Partner for Sapphire Risk Advisory Group, LLC who was named one of the top security ancillary cannabis businesses in 2018. For the last 5 years, his company has been one of the leaders in designing cannabis security strategies in over 20 states and Canada. Tony has over 30 years’ experience in Security, Audit, Safety, and Risk/Emergency Management fields. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from New Jersey City University and is a licensed Security Consultant. Tony is a published author on cannabis security programs and has spoken at numerous cannabis business conferences across the United States. Tony is considered one of the leading authorities nationwide in cannabis and financial loan service security, armed robbery and burglary loss prevention.
Marc Harvill holds degrees in Marketing and Spanish from PSU and an MBA from Washburn University. He started his career in retail pharmacy management and later worked for one of the largest privately owned pharmacy technology and robotic companies in the world. He had his start in the cannabis industry back in 2013 when he and his uncle, Brett Roper, assisted Andy Williams (owner of Medicine Man, a 45,000 square foot cultivation with processing and five dispensaries throughout Denver) with launching Medicine Man Technologies (Symbol MDCL), a cannabis consultancy in Denver. Today Marc is the Senior Consultant and Business Development Manager at MMT and is responsible for following emerging markets, managing client relationships, driving and developing business, and assisting shareholders and brokers. For the past six years Marc has been with MMT he, with his company, has assisted clients with state cannabis licensing, design, setup, training, and roll out and deployment in seventeen states including Puerto Rico, Canada, Colombia, South Africa, and Germany. The company has help clients win 26 licenses total in PA, OH, IA, CO, IL, NV, MD, PR, AR and HI.
State Senator Daylin Leach represents parts of Montgomery County and parts of Delaware County. Formerly an attorney and college professor, he is now the Pennsylvania legislature’s leading voice on progressive issues.
