Elevate Your Grind

Daniel Firtel is the President of TRP Co, the holding company for legacy brands Cookies, Dr. Greenthumb's, and Insane. Prior to joining TRP Co, Daniel led top real estate investment and leasing firms in California for over 15 years and has been involved in over $3 Billion in shopping center sales and lease transactions. He is also a serial entrepreneur, starting and expanding several successful businesses during his career including a chain of fast casual restaurants.

Kendra Stocking is the Vice President of Sales at Cherry World, a modern lifestyle brand with a focus on cannabis, fashion + lifestyle, skateboarding and culture. Kendra is a collaborative cannabis sales leader with over 14 years experience in sales in the cannabis, action sports and real estate industries. She was previously the Vice President of Sales at Old Pal, a company crafting quality cannabis in California and Nevada.

Frank Costa serves as the Chief Growth Officer of World Insurance Associates where he focuses on enhancing the synergies between clients, colleagues, carriers, and strategic alliances. Mr. Costa is responsible for maximizing new business development strategies, organic growth in Commercial and Personal Lines and Benefits, retention, and margins. Prior to World, Frank led the Middle Market and Small Commercial Divisions at Frenkel & Company from 2008 to 2017 and was responsible for 25 employees, 2,600 clients, and over $90 million in annual premium. He founded his own insurance agency in 1989 and successfully grew the firm from -0- to $2 million agency revenue before merging with CLG Insurance in 2001. Mr. Costa was the Sales Manager and lead producer at CLG Insurance from 2001 to 2008 and mentored 8 producers driving 8% growth in new revenue annually.

Graham is a serial entrepreneur who began his career as part of the original team at Software.com, taking the company public in 1999. Shortly thereafter, he served on the board of Seacology and was part of the founding team at Sonos, where he was involved with product design, development, sales, and customer support. After Sonos, Farrar served as a board member for Heal the Ocean, was a founder and partner of ebook publishers iStoryTime Inc. and zuuka, and founded a Santa Barbara luxury rental company. He first ventured into the regulated cannabis industry by founding Elite Garden Wholesale, an agriculture technology company focused on developing products for the hydroponics industry. Farrar currently sits on the Board of Directors of The Santa Barbara Bowl Foundation.

Ron co-founded Jetty Extracts in 2013 and has overseen its growth from a local San Diego brand into a leading California extract company. Jetty continues to move the industry forward in regards to extraction techniques, and through the Shelter Project, provides free cannabis oil to cancer patients. Jetty collaborated with Stone Brewing and Thorn Street Brewery on cannabis-derived terpene infused beers, and with Sweet Bricks, an artisanal toffee brand, to create Mind Tricks medicated toffee.

Ron is an active member of the CCIA, the CCMA, and the Oakland Diversity & Equity Cannabis Coalition (OakDECC), a cannabis advocacy organization helping to shape policy in one of California’s oldest and largest cannabis communities. Ron spent nearly a decade as President of natural deodorant brand Lavilin, and has worked at BlackRock Solutions and Accenture. Ron graduated with a BBA from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan in 2001.

Tracy Brady is the Vice President, Head of Global Communications Curaleaf, one of the largest MSO's in the United States. Prior to Curaleaf, Tracy was the SVP of Communications and Corporate Marketing at Hill Holliday. Tracy led a variety of communications, publicity and branding functions at Arnold WorldWide, Sony Pictures and Turner Broadcasting.

Morgan Paxhia is a co-founder and Managing Partner of Poseidon, one of the longest running funds in the cannabis industry.  With over ten years experience in investing and finance, Morgan has developed a deep understanding of individual company analysis, portfolio construction, and risk mitigation. Since 2012, he has dedicated his investment focus primarily to the cannabis industry. Given the limited amount of information in this emerging vertical, the lack of institutional research, and relative industry immaturity, Morgan embraces an active approach of working closely with companies. He utilizes a “boots on the ground” methodology to better understand individual companies and the industry. Through his extensive travel across the US and Canada, reviewing hundreds of business plans and overseeing several existing cannabis investments, Morgan has developed Poseidon’s investment methodology tailored specific to the business of cannabis.

Mr. Santo brings more than 25 years of experience leading lean, high-performance teams in Consumer Credit, Financial Services, Gaming and Technology, Higher Education and Specialty-Pharma. He has held a variety of senior-level positions at The First Marblehead Corporation, Fitch Ratings, International Game Technology, Lantheus Medical Imaging and, most recently, Columbia Care Inc., a leading multi-state operator in the cannabis industry. Mr. Santo holds an Investor Relations Charter® certification from the National Investor Relations Institute as well as a degree in Political Science from Boston University.

Paul Sykes has been the CFO of springbig since April 2021. Prior to joining springbig, Mr. Sykes was Chief Financial Officer of dmg information, the U.S. based business information group of London stock exchange listed DMGT plc, from 1997 to 2017; and from 2018 through 2020 was CFO and COO of Nordis Technologies. Particularly from his tenure at dmg information, Mr. Sykes has substantial experience executing acquisition transactions and operating in a public environment. Mr. Sykes started his career with KPMG in the United Kingdom.

Robert Beasley, a native Floridian, co-founded the law firm of Litvak, Beasley Wilson & Ball in 2001. As a consultant, Robert has advised multiple parties to obtain cannabis licenses and create related financing facilities in Florida, Oregon, California, and Washington, D.C. 

Also, Robert has participated in the design and construction of five cannabis cultivation and processing facilities, served as Board of Manager of the leading independent cannabis physician clinic group in Florida, and participated in the legislative and rulemaking process related to Florida’s Compassionate Medical Cannabis Act.  In 2016 Robert contributed to the Florida Medical Marijuana Legalization Initiative, also known as Amendment 2.