John Kagia is the Executive Vice President of Industry Analytics for Frontier Financial Group Inc. He applies his keen understanding of market research, business strategy and industry analysis to help high performing organizations achieve their strategic objectives. Leveraging his years of experience managing research studies for industry-leading clients including Accenture, Microsoft, The George Washington University, and the U.S. Department of State, Kagia brings a keen understanding of how market insights enable organizations to plan, grow, compete and measure performance more effectively. Kagia is particularly interested in helping to identify and build sustainable competitive positions. His passion for issues such as disruptive innovation and new market opportunities has brought him to focus on identifying strategic business opportunities in the fast-evolving marijuana industry. He received his MSc. in Marketing with a Market Research focus from Johns Hopkins University’s Carey Business School. He concurrently studied Japanese at the university’s School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS). He received an MA in Management from the University of Durham in the United Kingdom, and his B.A., Joint Honors, in Japanese and Management from the University of Leeds also in the UK. Kagia is Past President of the Mid-Atlantic chapter of the Market Research Association (MRA), and has earned Professional Researcher Certification (PRC) status. He is also an active member of the American Marketing Association...
Joy Beckerman is the Principal Industrial Hemp Specialist at Hemp Ace International (www.HempAce.com), a New York-based consulting, legal support, expert witness, and brokerage firm serving the global community. She sits on the National Boards of Directors of both the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), founded in 1970 and the Hemp Industries Association (HIA), founded in 1994. After opening the first hemp store in the State of New York in the early 1990’s, Joy served as Secretary to the Vermont Hemp Council upon passage of the inaugural Vermont hemp bill in 1996. In mid-1998, she commenced an extensive dual career as a compliance and complex civil litigation paralegal, supporting some of the West Coast’s most distinguished attorneys. Joy is an internationally respected voice, writer and renowned public speaker on a spectrum of industrial hemp and Cannabis Movement(s) subjects who has presented at continuing legal education seminars and at numerous colleges, universities, and conferences over the last nearly quarter of a century. She also works directly with lawmakers and regulators, both proactively and upon...
Maureen McNamara is a Trainer, Facilitator and Coach. She has led hundreds of workshops and coaches business professionals and entrepreneurs to create more success and joy in their lives. With 20+ years of professional training experience, Maureen 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 is the Founder and Chief Facilitator with Cannabis Trainers™; a corporation created and deliver training solutions for the Cannabis Industry. She has combined her skills and expertise into a comprehensive, engaging program to ensure the Responsible, Knowledgeable and Safe sale of cannabis: Sell-SMaRT™, safe marijuana retail training. Maureen worked with the Colorado Department of Revenue- Marijuana Enforcement Division to design the Responsible Cannabis Vendor Program in 2014. The Sell-SMaRT™ program created by Cannabis Trainers was the first CDPHE & MED approved program. 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. Cannabis Trainers is a member of The National Cannabis Industry Association and a founding member of Women Grow. Committed to excellence, professionalism and safety; Cannabis Trainers is a powerful partner to organizations and businesses in the Cannabis...
Cannabis Cultural Association, or CCA, strives to involve underrepresented communities in the legal cannabis industry, by providing informational workshops, cultural programs, and community events with an emphasis on issues disproportionately affecting communities of color. CCA connects a diverse community of passionate, curious and energetic people, especially people of color, around the cannabis plant. All cultures throughout history have used cannabis, and we want to acknowledge and spotlight that. We seek to empower underrepresented communities, especially communities of color, to take action and get involved to reap the emotional and socioeconomic benefits of the emerging cannabis industry. Nelson Guerrero is a bilingual Ecuadorian-American, who studied Business Administration and History at the City University of New York, Lehman College. He is an experienced entrepreneur; upon graduation, he co-founded NanoTechnostics Inc. a biomedical company that won People’s Choice at the New York State Business Plan Competition and took part in the prestigious LI Comets Accelerator program in Huntington Long Island. Post-Nanotechnostics inc. Nelson worked in various sectors leading in sales and business development. Following his passion for community and Cannabis Nelson Cofounded the non-profit organization the Cannabis Cultural Association. Nelson is an active volunteer for his local community center and a member of the Policy Committee for the Minority Cannabis Business Association. Jake Plowden, photographer/co-founder/creative director of Cannabis Cultural Association Raised in Harlem and Brooklyn, Jake Plowden has witnessed the worst of the Drug War, seeing family and friends lost to systematic mass incarceration and drug abuse. Jake knew he wanted to get involved in legal cannabis but he wasn’t sure how and didn’t want to be another statistic. Whilst in CUNY...
Michelle Dumay is the mother of a terminally ill child born with a rare brain abnormality that required nearly half of her brain to be removed when she was less than a day old. Among other medical conditions (cerebral palsy, blindness and quadriplegia) Fatima suffers from four types of seizures. Michelle is no stranger to medical/hospital settings having taken Fatima to more than 1200 appointments. Her experience as a caregiver and medical advocate has allowed her to serve on patient advisory councils for one children’s hospital (Los Angeles) and two insurers (Mercy Care and United Health Care). As a trained chemist, she first turned to conventional-pharma for the treatment of Fatima’s seizures. Then she learned of the medicinal value of cannabis and its efficacy in mitigating seizures. With great success, her daughter has been using cannabis for two years. Along with advocacy, learning has been a huge part of this journey. Federal prohibition has hampered all things-cannabis, including medical use. Having experienced first-hand the benefits and efficacy of its use to mitigate her daughter’s seizures, Michelle wanted to petition her insurance companies to cover the cost of the cannabis medicine. Quickly she learned that this was a lofty aspiration for a huge unforeseen reason (besides Prohibition): medical cannabis dispensaries are not HIPAA-compliant and as such, cannot partner with insurance companies to serve cannabis patients. Working to solve her own problem and the looming problem of millions of cannabis-using patients, she entered into the world of cannabis governance, risk and...
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