Thinking Outside The Bud

Matthew Moore, Principal Scientist, Benuvia Manufacturing Matthew received his PhD in Chemistry from the University of Texas at Austin and has since worked on developing methodologies for transferring bench scale research to manufacturing production. He currently works at Benuvia Manufacturing to further the development of clinical quality psychadelics and cannabinoids for use in clinical trials t...

Delano Phillips, General Counsel, Head of Business Development Delano Phillips serves as General Counsel and Head of Business Development/Compliance at Hana, a vertically integrated cannabis company based in Tempe, Arizona. He oversees a diverse portfolio of brand assets for the organization including product lines Dutchie and Revival Infused Edibles. In addition, he leads projects related to cult...

Bryan McLaren, Chairman & CEO, Zoned Properties Bryan McLaren is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Zoned Properties, a publicly traded, strategic real estate development firm for emerging and highly regulated industries. McLaren has accrued over a decade of experience in social, economic, and environmental development of complex business organizations with a focus on sustainability in em...

Jon Purow, Counsel, Zuber Lawler Jon Purow is Counsel in the New York law office of Zuber Lawler. Jon specializes in cannabis regulatory and transactional matters, as well as general intellectual property litigation and transactions. He helps spearhead Zuber Lawler’s team in New York and New Jersey as these states . He focuses on how constantly evolving cannabis state and federal laws and regulati...

Eric Meth, Chief Strategy Officer, Surfside Eric is a media sales professional & leader specializing in interactive, programmatic, mobile, and ad tech with 25 years of CPG & retail experience. Having worked in both start-up environments and some of the most recognizable media and digital companies in the world, Eric founded Good Harvest Co. in 2018 to transition his expertise and help innovate the...

Kyle Paradiso, Founder, CEO, Sleepy Bear Launched in early 2020, Sleepy Bear was born with one idea in mind: to provide a natural nighttime option that customers could trust to not only be effective but most importantly safe. Sleepy Bear was founded by Kyle Paradiso, a former army ranger, whose service injuries guided him into research involving the use of cannabis and other homeopathic remedies f...

James Yi, Founder, CEO, Leaf Trade James Yi founded Leaf Trade in 2016 after seeing firsthand the inefficiencies in the cannabis supply chain. Since then, he has led company strategy and execution to ensure that Leaf Trade delivers innovation, value, and happiness to its stakeholders. In this nascent industry, James stands apart as someone with both keen industry understanding and proven technolog...

Max Armstrong, Founding Member, General Manager, Learn Brands Max Armstrong is a Founding Member and General Manager of Learn Brands, an educational platform built for the cannabis industry. He specializes in product and business development. His goal is to make quality education and cannabis knowledge easily accessible to all industry employees and consumers. He believes that through education, f...

Matt Melander, President, CFO, LEVIA Following a decades long career in the securities business, Matt came to LEVIA with a desire to be part of something from the very beginning. In early 2018 he met the Brosnans and Rogers through a former colleague and was quickly wrapped up into the ever changing world of recreational cannabis, and the vision of bringing superior cannabis infused beverages to M...

Erik Paulson, Senior Analyst & Lab Manager, Infinite Chemical Analysis Labs Erik Paulson grew up in San Diego, CA, and received his Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from the University of California, Riverside. He continued his studies in Riverside to obtain a teaching credential, and then taught high school chemistry in Burbank, CA for five years. His passion for learning brought him back to San...

Russell Thomas, CEO, LifeTonic Russell Thomas is the Founder and CEO of LifeTonic, a division of Natural Extraction Systems. Instead of solvents, LifeTonic uses a proprietary Evaporative ExtractionTM process that uses heated air to gently extract CBD and terpenes from hemp. Evaporative Extraction combines extraction, activation, and refinement into a single step to produce a potent, high terpene c...

Bethany Moore, NCIA's Deputy Director of Communications Bethany Moore is NCIA’s Deputy Director of Communications, responsible for member-facing communications including blogs, newsletters, video projects, and NCIA’s weekly podcast. Bethany has extensive experience in non-profit activism work, including drug policy reform and church-state separation issues. Bethany spent over three years working f...

Dana Mosman, Co-Founder, Triminator Dana is the co-founder and CEO of Triminator, the global leader in cannabis and hemp processing equipment. Founded in 2010, Triminator designs and manufactures equipment to streamline the harvesting process for farmers big and small. Dana grew up in Grass Valley, CA, an area with a longstanding history of Cannabis production, and holds a bachelor’s in business f...

Matt Hawkins, Founder, Managing Partner, Entourage Effect Capital Matt brings an extensive background in building large alternative investment firms and scaling the companies he invests in. In 2014, Matt had a vision to create the leading private equity firm focused specifically on investing in the legalized cannabis industry. Prior work highlights: Partner and President, Tucson Capital Partners -...

Kieve Huffman, CEO, Founder, Engager Brands Kieve is a successful entrepreneur and innovation executive with a proven track record of success in cannabis, music, digital marketing and media technology. He has founded five companies and created new divisions within larger organizations five times. He has been a founder at three cannabis companies that have raised over $25 million. He grew the digit...

Riaan du Plooy, CEO & Partner, Cannsult, Inc Riaan du Plooy is a Chemical Engineer-turned-Business Improvement Executive who is passionate about creating big value for people and organizations. As the CEO of Cannsult, Inc., Riaan does more than wrangle the strategic direction and execution of his own business. He partners with organizations worldwide to confront massive changes and challenges to d...

Justin Robinson, Founder, Lantern Justin Robinson is the founder of Lantern, among the leading on-demand cannabis ecommerce and delivery platforms in the U.S., and a co-founder of Drizly, the largest ecommerce alcohol marketplace in North America. Lantern brings transparency, safety, and convenient access to cannabis by connecting recreational cannabis consumers and patients to its network of loca...

Nohtal Partansky, CEO, Sorting Robotics Nohtal Partansky is the CEO of Sorting Robotics, a Y Combinator backed startup based in Los Angeles, CA. Nohtal started his professional career working at NASA-JPL building the MOXIE Instrument; a device that is currently producing oxygen on the surface of Mars. After completing the MOXIE project at NASA, Nohtal had a desire to start his own robotics company...

Quinn Shiskin, Director of Products & Innovation, The Valens Company Quinn Shiskin is a talented technician who has transformed his skills as a dual ticketed Red Seal tradesman into becoming a creative and knowledgeable Director of Products & Innovation at The Valens Company. In his current role, he serves as the strategic link between the commercial business team (business development, sales, mar...

Kevin Greene, Vice President, Cleveland School of Cannabis Kevin Greene is a father, mentor, compassionate community member and successful entrepreneur. He has been focused on the equitable development of community and business his entire professional career and continues to commit to having a social impact through economic growth and advancement of his communities. With ownership of two successfu...

Nicole Brown, Chief Innovation Officer, Open Book Extracts (OBX) Nicole Brown serves as Chief Innovation Officer for Open Book Extracts (OBX), an ingredient manufacturer and product development house focused on cannabinoid-enabled health and wellness, located in North Carolina. As Chief Innovation Officer, Nicole channels data-driven consumer insights into a long-term course of action, delivering...

Matthew Mograbi, U.S. National Sales Manager, Eybna Matthew Mograbi oversees U.S. operations for Eybna, a pioneering technology company and terpene manufacturer with US HQ offices in California and R&D centers in Israel and Colorado. With a forward-thinking Research & Development team, comprised of highly accomplished Ph. D. scientists and engineers, Eybna researches the therapeutic benefits of ca...

Jose Escalante, CEO, Future Farms Jose is a business executive working towards the promotion of health and wellness through the democratization of medical cannabis. His expertise includes strategy design, financial management and venture building. He enjoys generating new ideas that could create feasible solutions to current and relevant problems. His coworkers would say he's a resourceful and pro...

Ashley Elsner, COO and Co-Founder, Artery Pay Ashley, a thought leader in cannabis banking and payments, is an expert in fintech and financial law. She began her career on the financial regulatory team at Sidley Austin in NYC where she handled SEC and state regulatory compliance for public and private financial offerings and was instrumental to long term internal regulatory audits of an $800B+ glo...

Rob Mejia, Adjunct Professor, Stockton University, Cannabis Studies Department Rob Mejia is an Adjunct Professor at Stockton University where he teaches the Introduction to Medical Cannabis and Preparation for Cannabis Internship classes. As one of the leads for the hemp/cannabis internship program he has helped place dozens of students in valuable internships. He is also creating new curriculum f...