Elevate Your Grind

Since the early stages of the Internet, in the mid-1990s, Sparky Rose has grown from a cutting-edge designer into a leading branding and marketing professional with deep expertise and focus in the medical and recreational cannabis industry. A visionary and believer in championing products that help society, he was at the forefront of the cannabis industry from 2003 to 2006 as executive director of Compassionate Caregivers, an Oakland, California-based medical cannabis company. Sparky helped grow the business from two to seven dispensaries in just 18 months. In addition, he had oversight of its three cultivation centers, managed over 280 employees, and oversaw revenue growth to more than $5 million per month.

Sparky understands the regulatory issues between states and has been commissioned to consult for numerous cannabis companies in California, Colorado, Washington, Nevada, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Illinois, where he resides. Prior to co-founding Supercritical, Sparky developed the original branding, design, and packaging for Sacred Mind & Body’s THC and hemp seed oil line. He’s advised the Cannabis Training Institute and ebbu. He was one of the co-founders, with CEO Adam Grossman, of the Papa & Barkley cannabis brand, heading up all branding, design, and packaging. Most recently, Sparky led new product initiatives and retail design and experience as Chief Marketing Officer for Illinois-based PharmaCann. He is known for creating one of the most comprehensive training programs for cannabis patient care representatives as well as consulting and advising on various operational aspects, including the company’s nitrogen flush packaging process.

Earlier in his career, Sparky was creative lead at San Francisco-based Viant through its IPO in 1999 and was the head of all eBusiness at Fortune 500 firm Robert Half International (NYSE: RHI) following which he worked in its corporate development/M&A department. In addition, Sparky has consulted with non-cannabis clients including Chanel, DDB, BBDO, Ogilvy & Mather, DirecTV, PepsiCo, and Fox Sports Networks. He has also served as creative director for Discovery Communications’ Digital Cable Networks and Advanced Television Studio. Sparky is a lifelong drummer who played for Bay Area sensation Tang! before his marriage to wife Kat and acquisition of two miniature schnauzers.

Sara Stewart is building out the first legal cannabis consumption lounges in America under her new advisory company, The Highspitality Group. Sara is an experienced hospitality professional providing exceptional customer service in establishments ranging from nightclubs to fine-dining restaurants. With unique experience managing and operating in the first cannabis consumption lounge in the US,  Sara is looking at ways to bridge the gap between cannabis consumption lounges and today's hospitality standards using education, control, and valuable insight on how to help others save time and money on initial openings of consumption venues with food and beverage programs. Highspitality exists to help sculpt the welcoming, educating and hosting of guests into the world of public cannabis consumption. They aim to take our previous experience in a consumption lounge to help business owners save time and money in a brand new industry.

Jessica Billingsley serves as Akerna’s Chief Executive Officer. In June 2019 she became the first CEO of a cannabis ancillary company to be listed on Nasdaq. She co-founded MJ Freeway in 2010, where she served as President until April 2018, and later as the CEO until MJ Freeway was acquired by MTech to form Akerna. In 2015, she was named as one of Fortune’s Most Promising Female Entrepreneurs, in 2018, she was named one of Inc. Magazine’s 100 Female Founders, and in 2019, she was named to Entrepreneur’s inaugural list of 100 Powerful Women.

Prior to MJ Freeway, Jessica earned her degree in Communications and Computer Science from the University of Georgia and later became CEO and founder of Zoco, a technology services firm with clients across the United States. With 20 years of technology and systems experience in rapidly scaling businesses, Jessica is a highly regarded executive in both the tech and cannabis space.

Cannabis dispensary professionals are all too familiar with constantly juggling their inventory, customer engagement programs, employee success efforts, and everything in between. Two technology-focused entrepreneurs, Cree Robinson and Louis Masensi, are hoping to simplify this process with their new software company touCanna, which automates and connects all of a dispensary’s work in one place.

The pair decided to launch into entrepreneurship after years working in tech, and learning that the corporate world wasn’t always welcoming of new ideas. "I was determined to create within spaces where women and people of color had been excluded from or did not have as much opportunity as other groups," says Robinson. "We're both long time believers in cannabis and have seen first hand the power of its healing capabilities, so getting involved was a no-brainer."

After conducting 80 interviews with owners, managers, and budtenders across the country, Robinson and Masensi now believe that their Dispensary Operations Management Software (DOMS) will help dispensaries save both time and money. Launching in January 2021, the software should help prevent costly fines and strengthen operations.

Steven Ernest is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Sharp Capital Advisors. Steven began his career at J.P. Morgan and leverages a decade of experience in the capital markets, as well as five years in the cannabis industry to advise owner/operators and investors alike in the cannabis space.

Steven began his career in cannabis by co-founding Mazakali in San Francisco. He then joined Viridian Capital Advisors to lead business development efforts in raising capital for cannabis companies. In addition to advising companies, Steven has also been an angel investor in the cannabis space since 2015 and sits on the finance committee for Students for Sensible Drug Policy.

Prior to joining the cannabis industry, Steven spent nearly a decade in the capital markets across institutional sales, trading, investment banking, business development,  client relationship management, wealth advisory, and investment planning.

Dr. Stuart Titus, Ph.D., is an industry innovator who has been involved in the growth of many companies in the cannabis industry, and started his relationship with Medical Marijuana Inc. by becoming its seventh investor. Titus’ is also a Wall Street veteran, where he was a bond trader for 11 years. Dr. Titus earned his undergraduate degree at Rollins College, and his Ph.D. from the Open International University.

Dr. Titus has been involved in the development and investment of several industry-leading cannabis and industrial hemp businesses during his most recent career. Dr. Titus developed several prominent cannabis companies, including HempMeds, KannaLife Sciences Inc, and Kannaway, LLC.

Titus’ diverse background in both finance and healthcare is the impetus behind his strong passion to help others by supporting the greater cannabis industry. A graduate of Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, Titus majored in economics and minored in business administration. He got his start on Wall Street where he worked as a bond trader for eleven years, managing a trading and underwriting department as a V.P. for CS First Boston Corp. Titus then went on to earn his PhD from Open International University, an educational organization affiliated with the World Health Organization.

Dr. Titus holds a Fellowship with the American Academy of Pain Management and clinical association with the American Association of Integrative Medicine. He practiced as a British Physiotherapist for over fifteen years, running clinics that specialized in integrative pain management and injury rehabilitation, treating over 40,000 patients. His first-hand experience with therapeutic hemp oil products as nutritional supplements led him to Medical Marijuana Inc. and drives him to continue to support the emerging cannabis medical marijuana and industrial hemp industries in the United States and abroad.

Shadi Ramey discovered her passion for food at an early age growing up in a first-generation Persian household where the act of preparing food was always slow and always intuitive. She learned at an early age that real food takes hours to create and that the same reverence must be given to experiencing that food. Shadi is a self-taught chef combining her interest in cultures from around the world with local, organic ingredients. She began cooking professionally in 2005 and continues honing her passion as a chef. Her culinary passion has led her to study the cuisine of Japan, Italy, France, Mexico and Nepal. Her M.A. degree in Cultural Anthropology led the foundation for her work as a culinary anthropologist, a field which she has been exploring for the past two decades. 

In 2008, Shadi began a journey to spread her culinary wings to include culinary herbalism, ayurveda and food as medicine. For the past decade she has been elevating her culinary skills to incorporate health, wellness and vitality. Shadi has studied with Vasant Lad from the Ayurvedic Institute and brings her knowledge of Ayurveda to her kitchen, her recipes and her events. 

Shadi started growing hemp on her small, organic micro-farm north of Boulder in 2015. It was then that she started spending time with hemp on a daily basis and experimenting with hemp food on a deep, immersive level. Her work with hemp food includes all edible parts of the plant; the leaves, flower, hemp seeds and hemp seed oil. In 2015 Shadi set out to make a hemp-based body cream that was good enough to eat and her hemp body care line, Satya Kama was born.

Shadi loves to nerd out on all things mycology. She has been cooking with mushrooms for the past twenty years. She is delighted to see mushrooms growing in the mainstream consciousness. Shadi’s approach to culinary mushrooms is much like her other work as it stems from multicultural uses and flavors. Shadi is fascinated by the concept of terroir as it relates to culinary mushrooms and works to bring this to her guests through her culinary work. 

In the spirit of prasad, Shadi’s events are a testament to food as a spiritual experience. Her natural talent as an event manager, no doubt stemming from her Persian ancestry, has earned her the reputation of an excellent hostess of immersive culinary experiences, combining environments, unique flavors and plenty of conversation-starting dishes. Her high-end culinary skills and zero-waste approach to all of her events, workshops, classes and farm dinners make for memorable and impactful experiences.

Shadi does both savory and sweet, traditional and modern, and loves fusion-inspired food. Shadi has been a plant-based baker for over 20 years. She is an advocate for people, plants, regenerative farming and the intersection of plant-based cuisine, high-vibe food and vitality. Her first cookbook, Hemp: Feed Your Vibe will be published in the Spring of 2020. 

Ramey graduated with a Masters of Arts in Cultural Anthropology from New Mexico State University in 2001. She did her field work in Nepal and wrote her thesis on sustainable development. Sustainability continues to be an integral part of her lifework as it relates to zero waste events, regenerative agriculture, mission-driven business and plant-based food.

Halston Trabucco is the Chief Marketing Officer at Hoban Law Group. In this role, she is responsible for leading the company’s marketing and communication efforts, including media relations, branding, advertising, social media, video, and online content. Additionally, she manages and oversees sponsorships, events, charitable contributions, and marketing training.

Prior to joining Hoban Law Group, Halston launched her career in the Denver area, starting off in the beverage industry, where she began to develop her sales and networking skills with an eye for marketing and business development. At 25, she started her own company managing and staffing events and trade shows to help grow different industry brands throughout the country. Because she excelled at putting deals together, she formed another company to buy and sell Hunter/Jumper show horses.

Halston later became a pioneer in Colorado’s medical marijuana industry since its foundation in 2009, sitting on local and national panels, hosting political events, providing locations for industry networking gatherings and advocating and volunteering; She owned and operated one of the first vertically integrated, licensed medical marijuana dispensaries in Boulder, Colorado and helped implement the first marijuana seed-to-sale tracking system in 2012.

In 2016, Halston assisted in the foundation of a cannabis tech startup and was personally responsible for bringing in more than $1.7 million in national sales in less than two years.

In her free time, she loves riding her horse, Apple, competing in equestrian jumping competitions and (her new favorite) wake surfing in the summer.

The Flowery is a newly opened, family-owned MMTC in the state of Florida. Currently available by delivery in Miami-Dade and Monroe County, The Flowery has begun to rack up rave reviews and praise for their flower. "We are flower focused, and when our patients experience our products, it's a handshake with our grower at our Homestead nursery. We control every stage of the process, from seed to sale...We're farmacists, not pharmacists, and when you're a patient at The Flowery, you'll experience our promise - we are here to lift you up."

Amy is a manager of HBK's Manufacturing Solutions and is located in the Youngstown, Ohio office. She joined the firm in 2019, after spending thirteen years in the manufacturing industry. Amy has experience navigating strategic and financial matters associated with manufacturing companies. She works closely with these companies to help them plan, execute, and meet their short- and long-term goals.

Nick is a Principal in the Youngstown, Ohio office of HBK CPAs & Consultants. He is also Director of the firm's Cannabis Solutions Group in the northern tier of the firm's service region. He began his public accounting career in 2004 at HBK.

Nick has much experience working with closely-held companies and their owners. He provides tax and assurance services to clients involved in the Cannabis, transportation, and construction industries. Nick is relentless in promoting HBK and he works hard to help clients make informed decisions. He is a member of the HBK Transportation & Logistic Niche and the HBK Construction Solutions Group.

Nick has been extensively involved in all aspects of HBK’s Cannabis Solutions Group since its inception and has attended various national and regional conferences and seminars on the industry. His clients include cultivators, processors, retailers, supporting and vertically integrated operations, ranging from single to multi-facility operations. In addition to, he has provided assurance, tax, accounting, due diligence and consulting services encompassing the feasibility, structuring, application, startup phases for clients in the US, Canada and European markets.