Ed Rosenthal

Ed Rosenthal is recognized worldwide as a leading authority on marijuana. In almost 40 years as America’s “Guru of Ganjasm” he has written or edited more than two dozen books about marijuana cultivation and social policy that cumulatively have sold over two million copies. His first book is the only title on marijuana cultivation to be reviewed by the New York Time’s Book Review and his latest release, Marijuana Grower’s Handbook has become the definitive marijuana cultivation resource and official course book for Oaksterdam University, the leading trade school for the cannabis industry. After almost three decades, his Ask Ed column continues to answer questions on all matters of marijuana from readers around the world.

Chip Paul

Chip’s entrepreneurial career began after a very successful post-college corporate career that includeed startup’s in retail, healthcare, and natural products. In late 2013 Chip and his wife Cynthia sold their startup home care business and launched the first brick and mortar retail e-cigarette franchise, Palm Beach Vapors which led to research and discoveries in how other plants beside cannabis could modulate the endocannabinoid system. This research led to the founding of GnuPharma where Chip leads R&D development. 

The company was featured in Entrepreneur Magazine in the February 2015 issue. The couple also founded and launched a 501c4 non-profit called Oklahomans For Health which is the founder and leader of the medical marijuana initiatives in Oklahoma.  Chip authored State Question 788 which went on to become Oklahoma’s Medical Marijuana law and has been deeply involved with State lawmakers to build the regulations under the law.

Chip is a recognized and sought out speaker and educator on the endocannabinoid system and also speaks about regulations needed for the medical marijuana and CBD industries.

Curtis Winar, CPA/CFF, CVA

Curtis Winar is a Partner and member of the Strategic Services, Valuation, and Litigation Services team. He is also Cannabis Industry Practice Leader with Frost, PLLC, a Certified Public Accounting and Consulting firm operating in 46 states throughout the United States. Curtis has over 19 years’ experience providing strategic consulting and financial services, including strategic corporate structuring, business valuation, litigation consulting and expert witness testimony, assurance, and tax services. Curtis also has direct industry experience in manufacturing and distribution, wholesale and retail trade, food manufacturing, hospitality, real estate, construction, and cannabis (including industrial hemp and medical/recreational marijuana)

Expertise
Curtis has been engaged in the cannabis industry since 2012, both internally and as an external consultant and accountant for large vertical cannabis operators throughout Colorado and nationally. Representing over 85 industrial hemp, medical and adult-use marijuana licensed operators, he has intimate knowledge of the unique nature of operating in the cannabis space, including navigating complex tax rules (i.e., IRC 280E), state and federal regulatory requirements, and other related compliance matters. He works primarily with businesses in coordinating accounting functions, developing corporate structuring, strategic tax planning and preparing tax filings, advising on corporate finance, mergers & acquisitions, and business valuation. Curtis often provides litigation consulting and expert witness services related to complex commercial disputes in the cannabis industry.

Brandon Rust

Tom Boothe

Tom joined the FabricAir team in 2019 as the Territory Sales Manager for the central states, including Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana. He has over 20 years of design, fabrication, construction, and facilities experience working with companies such as CB Richard Ellis, The Raytheon Company, Menasco Aerospace, ABM Industries, and Signal Point Systems. His career started in his family’s general contracting company which focused primarily on oil & gas and infrastructure projects throughout North America. Tom became a Six Sigma Master Black Belt and led multiple projects that utilized building controls, ventilation systems, alternative energy, and aerospace platforms to ultimately reduce costs and increase efficiency. He has also worked extensively with the Arkansas Economic Development Commission and the Workforce Investment Board to provide businesses with incentives to expand and/or upgrade existing sites.

Tom has a Masters degree in Aeronautical Sciences from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and a Bachelors degree in Business from the University of Houston. He is a member of the Community Emergency Response Team, and has been a corporate trainer for multiple companies. 

Richard Delong

Th owner of CannaFREEZE, Richard L. DeLong has 33 years of experience in the field of botanical freeze dryers and is an expert in the process of Botanical Lyophilization. He was instrumental in the development of floral preservation on a global basis, and co-founded the International Freeze Dried Flower Association (IFDFA). He trained the entire botanical preservation industry through 275 training classes, spanning three decades.

Richard was also active in the basic design of several models of Commercial Freeze Dryers for both the VirTis and FTS Kinetics companies (now SP Scientific). For the past twenty years, he has been designing freeze dryers for his own company, Botanique Preservation Equipment, Inc.

In 2017, Richard partnered with a leading manufacturer of freeze dryers to build th CannaFREEZE line of equipment specifically for the Cannabis and Hemp Industries. This factory has been supplying very robust, industrial quality freeze dryers for a variety of industries for over 28 years. All of the CannaFREEZE freeze dryers are built to Richard’s specifications in this ISO:9001 accredited factory by a dedicated team of experience engineers.

Personal Customer Service and Dependable Support is at the center of everything he does.

Jeff Frable

 Jeff is a Certified Public Accountant and a partner at CCK Strategies. His major areas of practice include: small business organization and strategic planning; income tax consultation; cannabis taxation and reporting; audit and financial accounting services; and general business and non-profit organization consultation. Jeff has technical expertise in aligning small business with strategic and proactive tax planning and general business and non-profit consultation. He joined CCK Strategies in 1999 and has played a key role in developing a firm culture resulting in growth from 7 employees to currently over 100. 

Joe Westmoreland

Joe Westmoreland joined American Cultivation Systems in 2019 as Pre-Construction manager because of his passion to support this ever-growing industry. He began his career at American Thermal Systems as a field installer and learned all aspects of the cold storage design and build industry. Joe has over 17 years of experience remodeling facilities and building greenfield projects, lending to his understanding of the daily operations requirements of construction management and developing a keen eye for value engineering.

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Lezli Engelking

Lezli brought her 20-plus years of experience in the mental health and pharmaceutical industries to the cannabis industry during her first role, as executive director of the first chain of medical cannabis operations in Phoenix, AZ. Having gained a comprehensive understanding of the extensive quality and safety issues surrounding cannabis, in 2014 Lezli sold all financial interest in the industry to found FOCUS: The International Cannabis Health & Safety Organization. FOCUS is an independent, 501c3 non-profit organization that develops cannabis specific GMP standards and provides third-party accredited certification, training, and related services to the public and private sectors globally. 

Mark Doherty

Mark Doherty began his career in the Controlled Environment Agriculture industry in 2010 when he founded Aqua Vita Farms, a 14,000 square foot indoor aquaponic farm. Now with over a decade in controlled environment agriculture Mark has worked on over 300 indoor cultivation projects across North America. Mark’s passion is for high tech, tightly controlled, indoor cultivation environments. With a primary focus on cannabis production Mark’s experience with indoor cultivation also includes crops such as lettuce, basil, tomatoes, and strawberries. Mark resides with his wife and children in Boulder, Colorado. To learn more about Mark please visit, www.Doherty.Ag.

Bryson Guyer

Bryson is a serial entrepreneur and a Colorado native having been born and raised in Commerce City, Colorado. In 2011 Mr. Guyer began his next venture into the newly and quickly evolving Cannabis industry. As President and CEO of E3 Service Group, Mr. Guyer at times managed over 50 HVAC technicians, engineers, architects and other administrative team members. He accumulated nearly 1,000,000 sq. ft. of cultivation and extraction design work in the cannabis industry.

Mr. Guyer comes from a family of HVAC experts. His state-of-the-art cultivation and extraction facility designs are further enhanced by his proprietary environmental systems. His designs and buildouts are currently being utilized across the United States and around the world. His designs have proven more productive and efficient than most traditional strategies and take an analytical approach to efficiency through proven process and procedure. Bryson has been instrumental in expediting the permitting, inspection and approval processes in over 30 cannabis specific projects.

Mr. Guyer has helped design, build and consulted on 25 extractions labs including: The first licensed extraction lab in Boulder, 6 extraction labs in Michigan, 3 extraction labs in Oklahoma and 1 extraction lab in Farell, Pennsylvania for Penn State University. In 2017 Mr. Guyer consulted with Lynn Havelick of Hal Extractions to become the first extraction booth of its kind to be approved for UL listings in the United States.

In 2017 and 2018 Bryson was featured in two magazines, the “HVAC News” and the nationally recognized, “ASHRAE Journal,” a magazine dedicated to HVAC technicians and engineers around the country. Bryson was interviewed on his experience, accomplishments and performance enhancing technology in the cannabis industry. Mr. Guyer is a committed entrepreneur, industry pioneer and a dedicated father to his 5 children. Having grown up in Commerce City, Bryson understands the need for strong community leadership. To show his commitment he has continued to be an active member volunteering as a youth basketball, football and baseball coach to mentor and support Commerce City youth through competitive sports.

Ellis Smith

Kristin Flor

Kristin Flor is a board member of Freedom Grow, a non-profit 501c3 devoted to serving cannabis prisoners with magazines, books, newsletters, commissary funds, family outreach, and pen-pals. Kristin’s outreach to help cannabis prisoners has stemmed from the incarceration of her parents, and the death of her father.

Both Kristin’s parents were sentenced to federal prison due to their roles in operating some medical cannabis stores in Montana. Since her father’s death 9 years ago, she has been working directly with the prisoners to bring outreach, attention, and freedom to them. She also educates about jury nullification, the court system, and how the tournament and trauma of being incarcerated for cannabis affect their families. Kristin is also a yoga breath coach, yoga trapeze instructor, and caregiver.

Randy Lanier

Randy Lanier is a former cannabis prisoner who was released from his LIFE sentence after serving 27 years in federal custody, he is also a professional race car driver.

Randy’s life is documented in the Netflix series ‘Bad Sports’, episode 2 called ‘Need For Weed’. Since he was released from prison he has become an executive board member for the non-profit organization Freedom Grow.

Freedom Grow is a 501c3 that gives cannabis prisoners access to books, magazines, newsletters, commissary funds, pen-pals, etc. Randy is also an ambassador for two public traded cannabis companies. He and his son recently started an email commerce site called OOBERLIFE.com., and he has a book coming out in August 2022 called ‘Survival of the Fastest’.

Joel Perkins

As the Business Manager for Key Grow Solutions, Joel is privileged to be at the forefront of nutrient delivery innovation. Having previously managed the biological nutrient company Primordial Solutions, dispensaries (including the opening of recreational sales in Las Vegas at Oasis Cannabis), cultivation and production facilities, wholesale sales, product development, as well as distribution, Joel brings unique insights to the plant, its effects, and the emerging legal market from seed to sale.

Vijay Madduri

Vijay has practiced law in Tulsa since 2009. Vijay has handled a wide range of transactional projects across several industries including mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, business formation and consulting, general corporate and business governance, business contracts, commercial lending and project finance.  Vijay is the practice leader for the firm’s Cannabis law section. Vijay assists clients on a range of cannabis issues such as state licensing, regulatory compliance, corporate structuring, acquisitions and divestitures, real estate leasing, zoning, banking issues and compliance, and transactional agreements. Vijay has also been a guest lecturer at the Collins College of Business at the University of Tulsa.

Stacey Theis

Freedom Grow Forever Board Member, Co-Founder of CannaSense Campaign and owner of the infamous CannaBus!

I am the niece of Gary Shepherd, a Purple Heart Vietnam Veteran, who was murdered by the Kentucky State Police and a National Drug Task Force, 8/8/93. When attending Oaksterdam University in 2011, I learned the truth about cannabis, prohibition, and the drug war . I have been doing everything possible to help educate communities, assist patients and advocate for our Cannabis Prisoners and their families ever since! This past 4/20, we hosted the 1st official gathering for our released cannabis prisoners, The ConVets Fishing Tournament in Florida, sponsored by Robert Platshorn, Trulieve, and others. This passed summer our CannaBus toured its 7 cross country tour , doing a lot including getting thousands of letters to President Biden signed asking for the release of all our cannabis prisoners! I’m honored to be a part of our Freedom Grow team and proud of all we have accomplished and all we are doing!

Cliff Smith

Cliff Smith purchased PBS Industries in 2018. Although Extraction Rooms are a new product for PBS, PBS Industries has been in the Industrial Ventilation Equipment sales, design, construction, service and repair business for over 20 years. Mr. Smith recognized extraction rooms were synergistic with the core ventilation products offered by PBS and brought his industrial equipment design experience to develop safe, code compliant, extraction rooms for the plant oil extraction industry. Currently PBS has sold and installed a multitude of extraction rooms and associated equipment in 3 states.

Before purchasing PBS Industries Mr. Smith spent 20 years in the industrial component remanufacturing business. Processes included chemical metal stripping, cylindrical and centerless grinding, industrial hard chrome plating, nickel plating and high velocity oxygen fuel tungsten carbide spray metalizing. His duties included sales and customer service, process and equipment design, production management and COO.

The first ten year of his career he worked in the low temperature refrigeration business where he performed outside sales, system design, and project management duties. Projects included cold storage facilities, food manufacturing companies, food processing companies, and grocery store chains.

Eric McCauley

Eric McCauley was incarcerated for cannabis for 13 years of a 23-year sentence!  Eric was released on June 24th 2021 thanks to the first step act and compassionate release. Since Eric’s release, he has been focusing on uniting back with his family.  He also works with Freedom Grow, Mission Green, CANDO, and LPP to help bring awareness to the cannabis prisoners who are still incarcerated. Eric also enjoy spending lots of time with his son Ethan whom he was separated from K-12. He is constantly working to abide in a non dualistic state also know as Advaita Vedanta.

Amberly Taylor

Amberly Taylor is a Human rights journalist. Her activism started when her journey began getting her dad free from a defacto cannabis life sentence in Oklahoma with the help of her community in 13 different states. Freedom Grow was one of the first organizations to assist in the fight for her dad’s freedom. Since then Amberly has won the 2021 best canna journalist award for her article in Skunk magazine titled “The daughter left Behind”. Amberly currently works for senator Connie johnson as her director of communications.

Mark Slaugh

 CEO and owner of iComply, Mark works in the specialist sector of compliance for the medical, retail, and hemp industries and has over 13 years’ experience in cannabis industry development, consulting, and operational compliance and over 22 years’ experience in regulations and risk management. 

Due to his extensive background and education, Mark knows what it takes to move markets forward at political, policy, and operational levels. He has developed small and large startups, improved existing operations, and has protected some of the top companies in the field. He is a qualified expert witness on cannabis compliance and regulations in Colorado. 

iComply provides operational compliance services and validation of over 200 cultivation, manufacturing and processing, and dispensing facilities since 2011 and iComply consults for a variety of communities, organizations, and governments. Engaging in legacy projects over the long-term, iComply builds trusted relationships to ensure industry integrity, standards, regulations, and best practices are implemented and adhered to within organizations. iComply is also a federally qualified expert witness in compliance and cultivation. 

During the infancy of the industry, Mr. Slaugh was instrumental in setting standards for cannabis in Colorado having lobbied at the legislature on behalf of associations. He helped found and grow the CSMCC – a grassroots, volunteer organization representing patients and business owners’ rights in Colorado Springs. He later served as the Executive Director for the Cannabis Business Alliance (CBA) – one of the oldest industry associations in Colorado. 

Mr. Slaugh worked on the following Colorado legislation and policy during this time: 

1. House Bill 10-1284 

2. Senate Bill 10-109 

3. HB 11-1043 

4. Governor Hickenlooper Amendment 64 Task Force 

5. HB13-1061 

6. HB13-1238 

7. HB13-1318 

8. HB13-1325 

9. HB14-1122 

Hilal Tabsh

Hilal Tabsh is a CPG sales and marketing executive with significant experience in the U.S. and global markets. Hilal’s cannabis journey started as Senior Vice President at Bellrock Brands a leading cannabis company in Colorado. Hilal lead this company to significant growth across both the THC and CBD portfolios.

Prior to that Hilal was an EVP at Limitless Beverage, he helped establish the sales and marketing functions for the start-up company focused on unique healthy drink platforms such as cold brewed coffee, matcha green tea and lightly caffeinated sparkling water. Also Mr. Tabsh previously spent more than 15 years at Red Bull, initially based in Dubai, U.A.E. with management roles spanning the Middle East, Africa and Pacific regions. He was subsequently head of sales and marketing at Red Bull North America, where he managed and grew revenue with a broad retail and distribution network across the United States and led a team of more than 50 professionals.

Curtis Winar

Curtis Winar, CPA, CVA/CFF, began working in the cannabis industry in Colorado late 2011, representing multiple operators ranging from individual dispensaries to large-scale vertical operators and multi-state operators (MSOs). Curtis now represents cannabis companies in 21 states. His practice primarily includes providing strategic business planning and corporate structuring, tax planning, business valuation and litigation services. Curtis is frequently engaged to represent clients in litigation on either a consulting basis or as an expert witness relating to contract disputes, intellectual property infringement and other economic damages matters. He is also a frequent speaker on strategic business and industry matters effecting the operators in the cannabis industry.

A Certified Public Accountant, Certified in Financial Forensics, and a Certified Valuation Analyst, Curtis leads the Cannabis Industry Services Group for Frost, PLLC, a national accounting and business advisory service firm with offices located in Colorado, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, and North Carolina. Frost, PLLC provides a wide range of services to its clients including, audit and assurance, tax reporting and compliance (including addressing the impact of IRC 280E), M&A advising and due diligence, corporate structuring and finance, accounting services, business valuation, expert witness and litigation consulting services. Frost, PLLC currently serves clients in 46 states throughout the U.S.

Dr. Jerry King

Dr. Jerry King has over 57 years of experience in the field of chemistry, chemical engineering and food technology. He has worked in government, industrial, academic and consulting environments. Dr. King has published over 277 documents, including government reports and holds 3 patents. He is world renown for his expertise and contributions to supercritical fluid (CO2) technology in the fields of food, botanical and natural product processing, as well as contributions to analytical chemistry and materials science (i.e. packaging, coatings, surface modification, CO2-based cleaning processes).

Since 2013, Dr. King has had a focus on consulting, education, and R&D (CFS) related to the cannabis/hemp industries.  He is a recognized multi-disciplinary expert in the fields of extraction engineering &, chemistry, particularly using critical fluid  technology and has made numerous presentations at many science & engineering conferences. Since 2012, he has been an R&D Consultant with a focus on applying the above technologies in the cannabis and hemp industries. 

Usama Tohid

Usama Tohid is a Professional Engineer licensed in 31 states. He specializes in pressure vessel safety, lab and equipment safety, and fire code compliance. Usama has performed hundreds of third party reviews and has helped countless facilities to be compliant per the fire code requirements over the last few years. Usama’s expertise in heat transfer, thermofluid sciences and pressure vessel safety are the benchmark of his work; he teaches these subjects as a professor at California State University, Los Angeles to further share his knowledge with the generation of upcoming engineers.

Usama believes that lab and equipment safety can help save the lives of countless people in this industry and strives to get people to have manufacturing safety measures in place. For Usama, project success is always measured in a happy client that understands the safety of life is the main goal of sometimes very long process of getting a licensed facility up and running.

Kenneth Rust 

Logan Humiston

Logan Humiston is a Growth Sales Executive at Vangst, the premier talent resource for the cannabis industry. In her current role, Logan identifies and partners with cannabis companies around the country to ensure that their hiring needs are met. By working in both new and emerging cannabis markets, Logan has been able to act as a resource for companies of all sizes who are looking to build their teams and support them throughout their experience at Vangst.

Vangst, as a whole, has worked in over 30 regulated states as well as markets internationally across all cannabis verticals.