Andrea Brooks

Andrea is a cannabis advocate, lobbyist for social change, and an entrepreneur with a passion for health and wellness. Following a disabling injury in which cannabis played a crucial role in her recovery, she was inspired to advocate for the plant and build solutions in the space. She founded Sava in 2015, a curated marketplace for […]

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Andrei McQuillan

Andrei is the CMO of EcoGen Laboratories, a leading vertically-integrated manufacturer and supplier of high-quality hemp genetics. Andrei is a marketing authority and proven innovator, specializing in executing business strategies that drive exposure, brand positioning and significant sales growth for products within diverse industry sectors. He has led the charge in the brand development of […]

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Joe Puglise

Joe joined the cannabis industry in 2018, serving as the Chief Operating Officer and Board Director for Medicine Man Technologies, a Colorado-based publicly traded company. He currently serves as COO of Ilera Healthcare, a vertically integrated cannabis company in Pennsylvania that provides premium marijuana-based medicines to patients. Prior to this, Joe spent over two decades […]

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Annie Rouse

Annie has been at the forefront of the US hemp industry since 2009 with experience across the three industry sectors: grain, fiber and cannabinoids from farm to finished product. She is a serial entrepreneur, with start-ups across the CBD sector including Overcome (formerly Nature’s Hemp Oil), a US Hemp Authority Certified lifestyle CBD brand as […]

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Blake Butler

With experience in politics, media, and public relations, Blake brings a diversity of experience to his position as Executive Director of the North Carolina Industrial Hemp Association. Additionally, he is the co-founder of HempX, which has organized hemp educational events and workshops in multiple Southern states since 2015. Blake is also a partner in Adapt […]

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Daniel Stein

Daniel’s love of pushing the boundaries of advertising led him to the cannabis space in 2014, with the notion that the future of cannabis branding will be determined by the people who understand how to weave brands into culture. He is the founder and CEO of Essential Good, a new full service branding and marketing […]

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Virgil Grant

Virgil is a longtime pioneer of the legal cannabis industry for over two decades, as a medical cannabis dispensary owner, cultivator, manufacturer, and civic advocate. He is the Founder & CEO of California Cannabis West Coast, which has three dispensary locations in Los Angeles. Virgil also co-founded both Southern California Coalition and California Minority Alliance, […]

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Rocco Petrilli

Rocco serves as chairman of the National Cannabis Risk Management Association (NCRMA). The NCRMA offers innovative risk management services in the emerging cannabis industry that enable their members to thrive from seed to sale. Rocco has navigated a successful 30+ year career with an execution-based philosophy fueled by passion and commitment to the principles of […]

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Mike Lewis

In 2014, Mike began farming hemp and helped to develop rules for the Kentucky Pilot Program. He became the first, federally permitted hemp farmer in the U.S. since prohibition. Mike co-founded Third Wave Farms in 2017 and serves as Director of Agriculture, where he is responsible for production. Third Wave develops industrial hemp genetics designed […]

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James Yagielo

James has over 20 years of experience in recruiting and headhunting.  James became an IT Recruiter at 21 years old during the Dot Com craze of the late 90s. Moving to Florida in 2000, he continued IT Executive Recruitment and joined NORML in 2001 to begin his cannabis advocacy. He continued doing IT Recruitment until […]

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Anson Mitchell

Anson is the owner of Vermillion Hill Farms in Colorado. He and his team have been growing USDA-certified hemp for 3 years and they provide farming services and advice to the hemp community. Prior to their transition to hemp, Anson farmed alfafa and hay which provided knowledge of the technologies used in traditional ag for […]

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Lisa Buffo

Lisa Buffo is an entrepreneur and marketer with a passion for launching companies with experience in both the cannabis and technology industries. Lisa is the Founder & CEO of the Cannabis Marketing Association, a membership-based organization focused on education and best practices for industry marketers with the vision of rebranding cannabis at the national level. […]

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Greg Rochlin

Greg is a serial entrepreneur and healthcare advocate.  He has served as the CEO of Ilera Healthcare since it is founding in 2016. Ilera is a vertically integrated cannabis company in Pennsylvania that provides premium marijuana-based medicines to patients. Greg is active in other industries as well – he is the CEO and co-owner of […]

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Pat Tiernan

Pat is a senior, C-level executive with extensive operations, general management and business development experience. He currently serves as Chief Operating Officer for iAnthus Capital Management, a leading diversified cannabis company with operations in 11 states. Prior to this, Pat served five years as Chief Operating Officer at Stone Brewing Company. During that time, he […]

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Aaron Mullins

Aaron is Systems Coordinator for Next Big Crop, a full-service cannabis consulting firm with decades of collective expertise in license procurement; facility design and construction; systems engineering; equipment and materials sourcing; operations management; and compliance. As Systems Coordinator, Aaron oversees facility design and defines scope, goals and deliverables for all Next Big Crop building projects. […]

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Dr. John McKay

John is a co-founder and Director of Genetics for New West Genetics, a global leader in hemp seed genetics. John co-founder New West Genetics to apply modern genomics and breeding to cannabis. His research examines evolution and gene function at both the phenotypic and molecular levels. His publications have been cited over 6,000 times and […]

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Hope Wiseman

Hope is the co-founder and CEO of Mary and Main, a dispensary in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Mary and Main opened in the fall of 2018 and has had continuous growth since. In 2016, she became the youngest, black woman dispensary owner in the U.S. when her company was awarded a dispensary license in Maryland. […]

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Nicole Krug

Nicole founded Social Light in 2009 to help make the Internet a friendlier place by providing the tools and training small business owners need for success online. Through Social Light, Nicole helps clients hone their digital marketing strategies to bring more exposure to their brand while boosting the bottom line. Prior to this, Nicole spent […]

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Steve Allan

Steve is the President of Caliva, where he is responsible for finance/accounting, data analytics, legal & human resources and investor relations. Steve brings a strong financial background to his role at Caliva. Prior to joining Caliva in 2017, Steve was the Head of SVB Analytics and SVB Securities Strategic Advisory, where he was responsible for […]

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