Leslie Engelking

Leslie Engelking’s proven success in both the highly regulated framework of the pharmaceutical industry and launching Arizona’s premiere cannabis brand make her ideal to lead this nascent industry out of a patchwork of state regulations into a cohesive international system – resulting in a legal, sustainable marketplace.

Lezli previously created standards for self-policing within the cannabis industry, but is now ahead of both industry self-regulation and lawmakers – developing the first American National Standards Institute (ANSI) accredited, third party validated, international, quality and safety based cannabis standard in seven comprehensive areas: Cultivation; Retail, Marketing & Patient Care; Extraction; Infused Products; Pharmacology/Laboratory; Security; and Business Sustainability.

A passion for community outreach, coalition building and public policy issues, combined with a deep understanding of the ebb and flow between state and federal regulatory frameworks and industry self-regulation make Lezli exceptionally qualified to lead a project on industry standards.

Liana Held

Liana Held has 20+ years of experience in activism and understands the industry’s unique needs in navigating local governance, accounting, and staffing. She is the CEO of Liana Ltd., a cannabis business development company that provides accounting and human resources services to clients in California – and nationwide. She is a board member of the California NORML and has been a featured speaker/panel moderator in conferences worldwide.

Lorianne E. Carey

Lorianne E. Carey has been homesteading on a 30 acre Organic farm in Williams, OR for over 22 years, growing produce for local markets, vegetable/herb and flower seed, medicinal herbs, and for the past 10 years, Medical Cannabis for patients under the OMMP. She is a Professional Member of the American Herbalist’s Guild and practices Clinical Herbalism, Aromatherapy and Flower Essence Therapy at Apothecare, her herbal clinic and dispensary.

Lorianne is a member of the National Cannabis Farmers Association, and is the Co-founder and Secretary of Oregon SunGrown Growers’ Guild, a non-profit organization of growers that is the largest in the State, advocating for and promoting SunGrown Cannabis as Measure 91 is implemented.

Luigi Zamarra

Luigi Zamarra is the owner of Luigi CPA, an accounting firm that provides tax and consulting services to the marijuana industry. Luigi specializes in performing IRC Section 280E Allocations, having performed over 50 such allocations. Luigi’s clients span six states and include companies operating in a variety of related industries, including cultivation, retail dispensing, laboratory testing, concentrate and edible manufacturing, and LED indoor grow lighting.

Luigi is also member of BOTEC, a consulting firm that provides advisory services to Washington State and other governments related to regulation of the marijuana industry. See his white papers published on the Liquor Control Board’s I-502 website.

Luigi, formerly Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for Harborside Health Center in Oakland, CA, one of the largest marijuana retailers in the U.S., was involved heavily in IRC Section 280E, including lobbying efforts and drafting proposed legislation to change the law, and educational efforts to inform others in the industry. He also served as Director for PricewatherhouseCoopers, the world’s largest professional services accounting firm. During his 12 years of experience within the Big 4, Luigi worked with a variety of not-for-profits and other large companies to address their most complex tax law issues.

Luke Ramirez

Luke has actively been in the cannabis industry since 2009. Since taking control of his company’s operations in 2011, he has changed the entire culture of the shop and successfully completed the process of converting all 3 licenses from medical to retail. Within his organization he is responsible for all finance management, staffing, compliance reporting, marketing/inventory control, and public relations, among other things.

Luke has been featured on many media outlets, such as CNBC, national CBS, and numerous local news stations. He is also actively involved in multiple cannabis trade organizations, lobbying efforts, and advocacy groups.

As a young cannabis entrepreneur, Luke is motivated by the ideal to shift cannabis sales nationwide from the black market to reputable professionals who contribute to their communities and operate peaceful business practices. Luke strives to bring a sense of professionalism to the industry, and he has made his shop one of the most reputable in the cannabis community.

Mark Passerini

Mark Passerini is a Chicago native and graduate of the University of Michigan. He is the co-founder of The Om of Medicine as well as the Ann Arbor Medical Cannabis Guild in Ann Arbor, MI, for which he served as president for its first two years. He currently serves as the government liaison for the Michigan chapter of Americans for Safe Access (ASA) and is the president of the Illinois Cannabis Industry Association (ILCIA).

Mark was instrumental in crafting local licensing and zoning ordinances with the City of Ann Arbor and is currently working with various state legislators to further clarify existing Michigan laws to ensure patient access. He was an early member of The Arcview Group, a private cannabis investment and market research firm. Mark had the honor of organizing and emceeing Hash Bash, the nation’s longest running cannabis reform rally, for the past two years. He was most recently invited to speak at the Chicago Cannabis Conference at Navy Pier and the National Cannabis Industry Association’s (NCIA) first Midwest CannaBusiness Symposium on the topic of dispensary operations. Mark has 20 years of sales and executive management experience in a variety of industries, most recently renewable and energy efficient technologies. His interest in the cannabis sector stems not only from his love for the plant but also from his passion for the promise of a natural, holistic alternative.

Mark Sisti

Mark Sisti and his law firm concentrate on representing individuals charged with state and federal crimes. Mark has been practicing for 35 years and is admitted to the bar in New Hampshire and Vermont. He is also admitted to the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals and the federal district courts of New Hampshire and Vermont. Mark has been an active member of NORML for decades and is also a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. He has appeared in courts in New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, California, and Maine. He and his firm are dedicated to the vigorous defense of citizens accused of criminal activity and are aggressively involved in the reform of marijuana laws in the state of New Hampshire.

Mark Slaugh

Mark Slaugh founded iComply, LLC. Mr. Slaugh has more than 5 years of experience in the regulated cannabis industry, development, consulting and compliance business. Through his expertise, he has built a successful startup providing valued services to clients on regulatory models, starting operations, production/manufacturing/retail management, and compliance consulting, training, and certification. Additionally, Mark has served as the Colorado Springs Medical Cannabis Council (CSMCC) industry membership and executive director, and as the Southern Colorado Regional Coordinator for the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol (Amendment 64).

Prior to the commercial cannabis sector, Mr. Slaugh managed risk and fraud for major financial institutions including Total Merchant Services, and Barclays Bank. In this capacity, Mark developed risk mitigation protocols and navigated and enforced complicated banking and credit card regulations for 8 years.

Most recently, Mark Slaugh served on four rule making panels for the Marijuana Enforcement Division promulgating rules for administration, enforcement, and discipline as well as taxation, and edible safety workgroups and multiple topics for the State of Colorado. He is a member of the El Pomar Foundation’s Emerging Leadership Development program serving as a member of the Native American Council in Colorado Springs where is politically active. Mark is considered an expert in marijuana regulatory affairs from policy to operational implementation.

Martha Montemayor

Martha Montemayor, Certified Nutritional Consultant, is the owner of Healthy Choices Unlimited, a medical marijuana evaluation clinic. With MDs and clinic locations across the state, she has helped over 20,000 patients join the Colorado Medical Marijuana Registry. She assists the doctors with treatment plans and patient education.

Ms Montemayor also serves as Director of HCU Education, a non-profit educational charity that produces monthly Society of Cannabis Clinicians Colorado meetings and the Marijuana for Medical Professionals conference, Colorado’s only CME-certified conference on cannabis medicine. Prior to joining the cannabis industry, Ms. Montemayor was a clinical nutritionist with Crayhon Research, specializing in brain nutrition.

Mary L. Shapiro

Mary L. Shapiro started her law firm in the heart of San Francisco’s Financial District in 2009 after ten years at the renowned firm Townsend and Townsend and Crew, LLP. As an independent trademark and copyright lawyer, Mary counsels a broad range of clients in owning, enforcing, protecting and profiting from their intellectual property.

In the first 20 years of her business career, Mary worked her way up in the publishing world from book retailing to publishing, and rose to vice president of marketing and corporate communications for an international book distributor. At the time, as a purveyor, not yet a protector, of intellectual property, she was not yet aware of how perfectly her combined experience in marketing and publishing would serve her IP legal career later in life.

As former vice president of marketing for Baker & Taylor Books, a global publishing distributor, Mary was on the receiving end of intellectual property legal advice. She learned to challenge advice that didn’t square with her fixed marketing budget and the bigger business picture. She’s been the unfortunate recipient of an IP lawyer’s demand letter that ultimately led to rebranding and re-launching a product. After becoming an IP attorney herself, Mary maintains a balanced perspective, giving great weight to immediate marketing objectives and the long view of her clients business vision.

Mason Tvert

Mason Tvert is director of communications at MPP and oversees MPP’s media strategy and online outreach efforts out of the organization’s Denver office. Prior to taking over MPP’s communications department, he co-directed the successful campaign in support of Amendment 64, the 2012 ballot initiative to regulate marijuana like alcohol in Colorado.

Previously, Mason co-founded and directed Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER), a Colorado-based nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the public about the relative safety of marijuana compared to alcohol. In this role, he was the driving force behind the campaigns in support of the successful Denver ballot initiatives to remove all penalties for adult marijuana possession (2005) and designate it the city’s lowest law enforcement priority (2007).

Mason is a co-author of the book, Marijuana Is Safer: So why are we driving people to drink?, and he appears frequently in the news discussing marijuana and marijuana policy. In January 2013, the Denver Post named Mason the state’s “Top Thinker” in the area of politics and government.

Matt Karnes

Matthew (Matt) Karnes has over 20 years of diverse finance and accounting experience. Prior to founding GreenWave Advisors LLC, Matt worked in equity research focusing on the Radio Broadcasting and Cable Television industries for First Union Securities. Matt also covered Satellite Communication at SG Cowen and in addition, worked with the top ranked Consumer Internet analyst at Bear Stearns & Co. – this team was consistently recognized by the Institutional Investor’s “All America Research Team”. As a sellside equity analyst, Matt authored and co-authored numerous industry research reports.

In his most recent role, Matt was Principal and Senior Equity Analyst at Bull Path Capital Management, a New York City based hedge fund, where he was responsible for investment strategies of emerging technologies primarily within the Technology, Media and Telecom sectors. Prior to his career on Wall Street, Matt held various finance and accounting positions including auditing roles with PriceWaterhouse Coopers and Delloitte. He graduated from Fordham University with an MBA in finance and earned a B.S. Business Administration with a double major in accounting and finance from Miami University (OH). Matt is also a Certified Public Accountant.
GreenWave Advisors, LLC is based in New York City.

Matt Simon

Matt Simon has been working since 2007 to reform marijuana laws in New Hampshire, lobbying for medical marijuana legislation that passed the House and Senate in 2009 and 2012 (but was vetoed). In December 2011, he began working as a legislative analyst for the Marijuana Policy Project, where he serves as a resource to legislators and reform advocates in 16 states. Matt’s top mission in 2013 is to finish the job and pass a medical marijuana law in New Hampshire. Matt lives in Goffstown, New Hampshire and holds a Master’s degree in English from West Virginia University.

Matthew Abel

Matthew Abel is Executive Director of Michigan NORML and a criminal defense attorney. Mr. Abel founded Cannabis Counsel, P.L.C., a five-attorney Detroit, Michigan law firm. The practice includes business, employment and labor, domestic, contract, real estate, landlord-tenant, and other cannabis issues.

Mr. Abel is a NORML Legal Committee and National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys lifetime member, and a member of the National Lawyers Guild, and the legal committee of the ACLU of Michigan. He lectures regularly.

Mr. Abel has a Juris Doctorate from Wayne State University Law School, Master in Public Administration and Bachelor in Philosophy from Central Michigan University, and Associate in Criminal Justice from Castleton State College. He is also an Eagle Scout.

Maureen McNamara

Maureen McNamara is an International Speaker, Facilitator and Coach. She has led hundreds of workshops and coaches business professionals and entrepreneurs to have more ease and success in their lives.

With 20+ years of professional training experience, Maureen has specializes in the hospitality industry. She has trained and certified 10,000+ employees, managers and owners in national certification programs. She has facilitated classes for small locally owned businesses as well as international corporations.

Maureen has been a consultant and facilitator for courses and course design with the National Restaurant Association and has been partnering with the Colorado Restaurant Association to deliver their training since 1999. She has worked with the Colorado Department of Revenue- Liquor Enforcement Division on the Responsible Vendor Act that was passed in 2005. She will be working the Colorado Marijuana Enforcement Division to design the Responsible Cannabis Vendor Program this year.

Maureen is the Founder and Chief Facilitator with Cannabis Trainers™; a corporation founded to create and deliver solutions for the Cannabis Industry. She has combined her skills and expertise with Food Safety and Responsible Alcohol Service into a comprehensive, engaging new program to ensure the Responsible, Knowledgeable and Safe Sale of Cannabis: Sell-SMaRT™, safe marijuana retail training.

Maureen and the team at Cannabis Trainers deliver highly interactive and compelling workshops with enthusiasm, humor and professional facilitation. In addition to the Sell- SMaRT™ program, they are pleased to deliver the nationally recognized ServSafe® Food Safety training to edible makers.

Meg Collins

Meg Collins joined Good Chemistry as the vice president of business development in 2015, bringing more than 30 years of experience in public policy and strategic communications to the leadership team. Collins has led lobbying, public affairs and public relations efforts on behalf of energy, environmental and agriculture clients at the federal and state level. She is noted for her ability to navigate complex regulatory and legislative proposals to achieve sound policies and interact politically at all government levels.

In her role, Collins coordinates and manages Good Chemistry’s strategic planning and business development efforts in Colorado and other states. She will oversee and guide policy development and governmental affairs efforts that are integral to the company’s business efforts and will serve as the point person for community affairs activities where Good Chemistry has operations.

Prior to joining Good Chemistry, Collins was executive director of the Cannabis Business Alliance. During her tenure with CBA, she helped her members navigate the complex regulatory and legislative proceedings that designed the regulatory framework for Amendment 64, which legalized recreational marijuana for those over 21 and authorized the licensing structure for recreational marijuana to be sold in retail marijuana stores.

Before working with the cannabis industry, Collins was the president of the Colorado Oil & Gas Association (COGA). In this role, she led the association’s response to a controversial overhaul of the state’s oil and gas regulations. The rulemaking focused on the increase in exploration and production activity on the Western Slope, which had accelerated because of directional drilling and hydraulic fracturing technologies. Collins worked with industry leaders and state policy makers during the 2007-2008 stakeholder process to craft regulations that reflected both the priorities of Gov. Bill Ritter’s administration and the capabilities of the oil and gas industry.

In agriculture, Collins spearheaded the response to Colorado’s 1998 passage of Amendment 14, which imposed a strict regulatory regime on hog producers. For the Colorado Livestock Association, she implemented a government affairs program focusing on air and water quality regulations impacting the Colorado livestock industry at state and federal levels.

Collins elevated the industry’s profile and was able to position the association as a key player in the environmental arena. Her efforts resulted in the adoption of reasonable, science-based air and water quality and odor regulations for state Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs). She also helped drive the creation of the Environmental Agriculture Program in the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment.

Meg served on the state’s Pollution Prevention Advisory Board (PPAB) from 2002 until 2012, serving as board chair from 2004 through 2008. She was a founding member of Colorado’s Women in Energy organization and serves on board of the Humane Society of Boulder Valley.

She has received certificated training in facilitation and mediation from CDR Associates in Boulder and graduated from the University of Colorado with a bachelor’s degree in environmental conservation.

Melvin McDonald

Melvin McDonald has been a partner at Jones, Skelton & Hochuli since 1985, and practices in the areas of criminal defense and major civil litigation. He is a former United States Attorney for the District of Arizona, a former Superior Court Judge for Maricopa County, and has taught Criminal Justice at Arizona State University. Mr. McDonald received both his undergraduate and law degree from the University of Utah and is admitted to practice in Arizona state and federal courts.

Micah Tapman

Micah Tapman is a partner of CanopyBoulder and acts as the Program Manager. A veteran of both the U.S. Marine Corps and the Fortune 500 world, Micah is an entrepreneur and seed investor with an eye on strategy driven execution. Micah is a tech geek and cybersecurity pro who sees the cannabis industry as the most compelling business opportunity today.

Michael Aberle

Michael Aberle has 13 years of experience in the property and casualty insurance market and currently acts as program manager of the Cannabis Insurance Program at Next Wave Insurance Services, LLC in Rancho Cordova, CA.

Along with his extensive sales and marketing background, he designed the first “seed to sale” insurance program in 2009 for all medicinal and recreational cannabis and hemp in the U.S. and international operations . Mike also developed the first Crop and Product Liability policy forms covering bodily injury and property damage resulting from a cannabis related products.

In February 2015, meeting the rapid growth and evolution in the cannabis market, Mike launched a new insurance program with three of the top insurance companies in the world, designed to provide the most comprehensive coverage and increased limits available to the industry.

In 2007 and 2008, Mike expanded his risk management knowledge of cannabis related exposures by working in cultivation, manufacturing, and retail operations. Mike is the only known insurance executive in the country with this extensive experience. He is the bridge between insurance companies, brokers and cannabis business owners.

Michael Elliot

Michael Elliot has served as the Executive Director of MIG since January of 2011. Before becoming an attorney, Michael worked on several political campaigns. Most notably, Michael managed the campaign that defeated a proposed ban of medical marijuana centers in El Paso County (Colorado Springs).

Michael Hesser

Michael Hesser has over 25 years of experience on the front lines of primary research, and is a nationally recognized leader in the fields of consumer insight, directory exchange, wireless technology, and local commerce. Possessing highly refined expertise in the spheres of new product development, customer loyalty, and brand identity, he is both, a sought-after, respected speaker at market research industry conferences, and a well-regarded contributor to major trade journals. Michael founded the market research company Praxi in 2003 which provides customized research projects using both quantitative and qualitative methodologies across an array of industries. He has also moderated over a thousand focus groups during the last decade, in subjects ranging from consumer psychology and behavior to branding and advertising. In addition to Praxi, Michael founded Verabis in 2015 in order to provide market research tailored to the emerging demands of the rising cannabis industry.

Missi Wooldridge

Missi Wooldridge earned her M.P.H. from the State University of NY at Albany. Her background is in health behavior theory, program development, and addiction as a public health concern. She has been volunteering with DanceSafe since 2009 and founded the Denver chapter. She was voted onto the Board in 2011 and served as president from 2012- 2013. Missi was hired as Executive Director in the fall of 2013. She has recently been featured in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Billboard, Rolling Stone, VICE, Huffington Post, and The Katie Couric Show, among others. She envisions an electronic music community where harm reduction services and drug checking can openly be provided free of stigma and prosecution.

Morris Brink

Morris Brink is Chief Technology Officer and co-owner of the Silverback Advisory Group (SAG) based in Sonoma County, CA. SAG provides world-class consulting and design services, commercial indoors, greenhouse and outdoor architecture, and full implementation and operations services to producers, wholesalers and retailers in the cannabis industry.

Morris has worked with commercial greenhouses for close to 15 years designing indoor environmental systems specializing in heating, cooling, irrigation, humidity, irrigation and fertigation design, lighting, Co2, computer controls and aroma suppression. He started producing cannabis in 1996, growing both indoor and in greenhouses using both organic methods and various hydroponic systems.

As a graduate from the University of California at Davis with a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture Economics, Morris specialized with an emphasis in business and marketing. He is an outdoor enthusiast who enjoys kayaking, SUPing, surfing, mountain biking, snow skiing and mountaineering. When not outdoors, he will likely be found preparing a meal with his family using the organic bounty that he grows.

Mowgli Holmes

Mowgli Holmes is a biologist trained in molecular genetics, microbiology, and evolutionary theory. He received his PhD from the Columbia University Department of Microbiology and Immunology, where he was a National Research Service Award Fellow.

He is the Chief Scientific Officer of Phylos Bioscience, a biotechnology company studying the Cannabis genome. He is also a founding board member of the Cannabis Safety Institute and a member of the Rules Advisory Committee responsible for implementing the legal Cannabis system recently created by Measure 91 in Oregon.

Nate Ames

Nate Ames has spent the bulk of his career in the energy marketplace in various Director and Manager positions. His professional career is underpinned by his graduate degree in welding and material science from The Ohio State University. He has 5 patents and has chaired several national, international, and government committees.

Nate co-founded Apeks Fabrication over 13 years ago with Andy Joseph. He left the business in 2005 to focus on growing opportunities in the oil and gas industry and returned in 2013 to help Apeks through its recent growth. Nate’s core expertise is materials and system design for energy and power facilities, which align well with the technologies leveraged by Apeks Supercritical systems.

Nick Hice

Nick Hice is a master cultivator known for managing a large, successful commercial cannabis operation in Colorado. As a founding partner of Denver Relief Consulting, Nick brings over 15 years of experience with indoor growing under high intensity lighting to national and international clients. His innovative plant care techniques and dynamic approach to cultivation team management have lead to the development of highly regarded operations that exemplify industry best practices and maximum efficiency in legal cannabis cultivation.

Nick Tanem

Originally from The Bay Area, California, Nick Tanem now lives and works in Denver, CO as a leading cannabis industry consultant, public speaker, processor, activist and owner of the world renowned Solvent-less hash company, Essential Extracts. He also spends the rest of his days DJing, throwing and hosting various MMJ related events including weekly and monthly Reggae parties, huge festivals and sold out shows, always with a spliff hanging out of his mouth.

When Nikka T is not processing solvent-less hash for patients through numerous Colorado Medical Marijuana Centers, innovating new ancillary products, or playing music, he is traveling the world seeking knowledge and teaching the art of Solvent-less extraction. Nikka T has played with such artists as Rebelution, Mr Vegas, The Pharcyde, KRS One, STS9, E-40, Grizz, Matisyahu, J Boog, Capleton, Black Uhuru, Euforquestra, I-Wayne, Gappy Ranks, and Dubskin, just to name a few. He has hosted and thrown festivals and shows throughout the world including receiving the honor of hosting and DJing Reggae on the Rocks last year, as well as South Park Fest, Chalice Fest and The Great North Fest this year alone. Winner of 5 Cannabis Cups with his Essential team and another 5+ won by clients using his Essential Bags and technique; Nikka T is a father, Reggae Disc Jockey, Radio Producer, Promoter, Public Speaker, Extract Artist, Networker and Consultant.

Noah Stokes

Noah Stokes, founder of CannaGuard Security, the Nation’s Premier Cannabis Security Company, has years of experience in the security and technology industries. Noah believes that with the proper utilization of technology and intelligent design you can make your facility one that people will avoid, rather than attack. Noah saw a great need for a company to come into the security space and use technology to help protect people, rather than solely being used against them. His personal mission is to provide the most secure, robust and easy to use systems to his clients, without needing to charge the exorbitant rates the industry is used to.

Patrick McManamon

Patrick McManamon is the Managing Director of Cannassure Insurance Services, LLC. Patrick offers 12 years of alternative risk and insurance industry experience. Cannassure is an insurance organization focused exclusively on the legal Cannabis Industry. The firm develops, underwrites and services alternative property & casualty and risk management products for the Cannabis industry. Cannasure is a Sponsoring Member of NCIA.

Patrick Rea

Patrick Rea is a Founding Partner of CanopyBoulder and acts as the Managing Director. A 17-year veteran of startups, growth companies and corporate entities, Patrick’s role at CanopyBoulder is connecting teams with the resources and expertise they need. Before entering the cannabis industry, Patrick’s career spanned M&A, venture capital, strategic management consulting and B2B media in the health, wellness and self-care industries.