Thinking Outside The Bud

Cannabinoid, Terpene and Botanical Formulator Yahav Blaicher brings 15 years of experience in “Nutra” Industry, as well as extensive experience in Product Development, Formulation, Extraction Methods. He is a master R&D Specialist. Yahav is a highly trained professional with extensive experience in the natural products industry, specializing in cannabis and medicinal plants. His research &...

A graduate of Norwich University's MBA Project Management Program, John Shute has taken the marketing industry by storm -- originally starting out in hospitality and nightlife, and currently specializing in cannabis. John's forte is creative cannabis marketing strategy, B2B, B2C, and client communication in the marijuana industry. He was recently awarded “2020 Colorado CEO of the Year” by CEO Mont...

Lauren Forsch is the Founder & CEO of Popped. NYC, a startup that makes handmade, all-natural CBD body butter with a free side of plant education. Forsch is a member of Women Grow and creator of Cannabis Un-Anonymous, a NYC social club for members to speak freely about their health and their cannabis use without fear of judgment. She runs her business in LES where she resides with her husband,...

Christopher W. Shade, PhD, founder and CEO of Quicksilver Scientific, specializes in the biological, environmental, and analytical chemistry of mercury in all its forms and their interactions with sulfur compounds, particularly glutathione and its enzyme system. He has patented analytical systems for mercury speciation (separation of different forms of mercury), founded the only clinical lab in th...

Dr. Tishler is a Cannabis Specialist. Through his training in Internal Medicine and years of practice as an Emergency Physician, Dr. Tishler brings his knowledge, reason, and caring to patients here at inhaleMD, and through his advocacy work at the local and national levels. Dr. Tishler graduated from both Harvard College and Harvard Medical School, trained at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and...

Industry leader Joe Caltabiano is known for being one of the smartest people in the business. He’s originated over $2 billion in loans in his 16-year career, working with more than 5,000 clients in that time span. Caltabiano’s business extends across the entire nation, though he does have a particular focus right here in Illinois. In fact, he’s earned bragging rights as the No. 1 loan officer by u...

Jacques Santucci, President of Nucleus-One Consulting, a leading business performance management providing specialized management and growth strategies, assisting clients nationwide navigate the complex and evolving challenges of starting and operating a cannabis business, founded on the premise of sharing his experience and proven best practices, to define cannabis success at the intersection of...

Carolina Vazquez Mitchell, an esteemed cannabis scientist who is one of the 100 million people nationwide that report having difficulty sleeping. While she rarely used cannabis recreationally, Carolina found potential in the emerging scientific evidence supporting the plant’s effectiveness at inducing sleep with minimal side effects. After using a mixture of cannabis extract, terpenes, melatonin a...

Prior to joining Exactus as President, Derek served as the Cheif Growth Officer at EcoGen Laboratories, where he was responsible for over $100 million in revenue. Prior to his time to EcoGen Derek was the CEO/Co-Founder of Healing Ventures, a marketing & supply chain firm that helped bring several leading CBD companies to market. He is a thought leader who has played a substantial role in the...

Heralded as “The Queen of Legal Weed” by Inc. (May 2017) and “The Martha Stewart of Edibles” by Entrepreneur (Jan. 2019), Nancy Whiteman is CEO of Wana Brands, the producer of top selling cannabis infused products featuring a portfolio of diverse forms including edibles, vapes and extended release capsules, four different CBD/THC ratios as well as a variety of different dosages, onset times and du...

Eric Schneider is a Vice President of Sales at Alpha Root. AlphaRoot is a tech enabled insurance brokerage that focuses specifically in the cannabis sector. We’re a team of industry veterans with a long-standing relationships in the cannabis and agriculture insurance space. Our unique expertise allows us to provide customized coverage and access to preferred insurance markets. Prior to my work at...

Spencer is the President of Sangha Systems. Founded in 2017, based out of Brooklyn and Chicago, Sangha is a project development company focused on power infrastructure and renewable energy to supply cheap non-fossil fuel energy to the most energy dense end users in the world, including cannabis cultivation and data centers. Their team has deep engineering, real estate development, and legal experi...

Entrepreneur, Leader, Fitness Fanatic, Healthcare Professional - Mark brings a passion and joy for living to everything he does. From Chairman of the Board of a $20mm health services agency to Certified Yoga Instructor Mark has accumulated an impressive array of diverse experiences. Known for his charismatic, high energy approach to leadership, Mark has led many groups to successful completion of...

Jack Whipple has spent the last decade in the cannabis industry focusing on commercial cultivation and is a psychedelic plant medicine advocate. His new venture, Whipple Effect, is an operations management firm designed to bridge the gap between growers and owners, teach teams communication skills, and optimize the efficiency of gardens with technology and agriculture science. Jack started a non-p...

Jon White is a Vice President of Business Development at Paragon Payroll as well as an avid connector. He and his team work with clients to improve efficiencies within the payroll and HR processes while offering a concierge level of support which is unique in today’s payroll industry. With 10 years of experience in HR software and a strong network, Jon is a knowledgeable and valued resource for hi...

Amanda, Jason, their two dogs and soon to be son, Jones, call Austin, Texas home but are avid RV’ers and travelers. Launching their vision for a true lifestyle brand, the Crawford’s are hitting the open road on the Sovereignty biohacking bus to live their dream of work life balance and creating content to help educate the world about plant medicine and peak performance. Hosted by Simplecast, an Ad...

Dan is co-founder of Moose Labs, where he oversees the company’s vision and growth strategies. Dan manages investor and legal relations in addition to leading business development. He developed his entrepreneurial background as co-founder and co-creator of ShoutBot, a voice-to-voice communication app that allows users to share voice messages, pictures and locations with friends and the ShoutBot co...

Thinking Outside the Bud is a business podcast devoted to driving innovation in the cannabis space. During each episode, we speak with founders, investors, thought leaders, researchers, advocates, and policy makers who are finding new and exciting ways for cannabis to positively impact business, society, and culture. Have each episode delivered to your inbox by subscribing here: http://www.thinkin...

Matt Kowalis is the founder of Serenity Medical CBD, a Detroit-based CBD company. After losing his mom to Leukemia in 2012, Matt suffered from severe stress, anxiety and ultimately was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Committed to finding a natural remedy, Matt found CBD and dedicated his life to spreading knowledge about the product that changed his. As a result, he created Serenity...

Prior to co-founding LeafLink, Ryan successfully started and exited two companies, one of which he sold to a NYSE public firm. Ryan brings his experience creating and managing B2B firms and online marketplace investment in highly-regulated spaces to cannabis as LeafLink’s Chief Executive Officer. In 2016, Ryan was the first CEO of a cannabis company to be listed on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list. In Feb...

Brad is a marketing and communications leader who has spent much of his career as an entrepreneur and advisor to start-ups. Now, he is working in the cannabis industry, a field he’s deeply passionate about. He has 15 years of leadership experience in companies ranging from cannabis software and media publishing to marketing agencies to eSports gaming. A practitioner of connecting the dots and solv...

Luis is a Mexican-licensed attorney with a special expertise in cross-border business law and corporate transactions. He obtained is law degree from the Tecnologico de Monterrey and later received a Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree from Northwestern University School of Law and a Certificate in Business Administration from Kellogg School of Management. In the cannabis arena, Luis has been working clo...

David Belsky is a 15 year recruiting industry veteran and founder of FlowerHire, an Executive Talent Firm, founded out of LA, that has become a core building block of the Cannabis industry.  Quickly rising to leadership and helping to scale a $250 Million dollar tech recruiting agency for the majority his career, Dave was an early Investor in Eaze and was retained to build out their early executiv...

Dr. Tristan Watkins is a neuroscientist that studies how terpenes and cannabinoids interact with the nervous system and applies this knowledge to create cannabis formulas that deliver distinct and predictable effects. His cannabis research began as a passion project during graduate school at Vanderbilt University, where he researched reward system activation in cannabis users and how changes in br...

Kyle Moffitt is the co-founder and CEO of STEM Cultivation.  After becoming a medical marijuana patient in 2016, Kyle quickly experienced the pain of high prices, short supplies, and inconsistent quality shared by many patients across the market and realized that the cannabis industry suffered from a broken supply chain.  He and his co-founder started STEM Cultivation in 2017 to develop a manufact...