Plant Prophets

Brad Nattrass serves as the Chief Executive Officer of urban-gro, Inc, a leading design and engineering firm for Controlled Environment Agriculture facilities that integrates complex environmental equipment systems into these high-performance facilities. As CEO, Brad directs urban-gro’s corporate strategy, as well as business development, investor relations, and overall profitability and growth.

 A successful entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience in the agricultural sector, Brad combines bold vision with tested industry expertise to build strategies and solutions that save customers time, money, and resources.

Roz is the Founder/CEO of Minorities for Medical Marijuana (M4MM) the largest community-based national nonprofit organization serving communities of color as it relates to the cannabis and hemp industry. She also is the Founder/CEO of Black Buddha Cannabis. Black Buddha Cannabis (BBC) is a social impact-driven brand focused on creating best-in-class lifestyle and wellness products in partnership with cannabis operators in legalized states. Prior to her entry into the Cannabis industry, Roz spent 30+ years in the healthcare industry working as a branding and business development executive for powerhouse Fortune 500 companies like Bristol Myers & Squibb, VITAS Corporation, Maxim Healthcare, and Phoenix House.

Joe Hodas serves as Chief Marketing Officer for Wana Brands where he is responsible for generating revenue by creating innovative and refined marketing campaigns for the organization while helping to grow Wana’s brand, market share, and customer loyalty. An early professional marketer in the cannabis industry, Hodas drove the marketing strategy for Dixie Elixirs as its first CMO, helping build it into one of the most recognized national marijuana brands. Prior to joining Wana, Hodas was CEO at Gofire, an innovator of hardware and software IP designed to change the face of plant-based medicine and mainstream healthcare.

Joe Hodas serves as Chief Marketing Officer for Wana Brands where he is responsible for generating revenue by creating innovative and refined marketing campaigns for the organization while helping to grow Wana’s brand, market share, and customer loyalty. An early professional marketer in the cannabis industry, Hodas drove the marketing strategy for Dixie Elixirs as its first CMO, helping build it into one of the most recognized national marijuana brands. Prior to joining Wana, Hodas was CEO at Gofire, an innovator of hardware and software IP designed to change the face of plant-based medicine and mainstream healthcare.

Roz is the Founder/CEO of Minorities for Medical Marijuana (M4MM) the largest community-based national nonprofit organization serving communities of color as it relates to the cannabis and hemp industry. She also is the Founder/CEO of Black Buddha Cannabis. Black Buddha Cannabis (BBC) is a social impact-driven brand focused on creating best-in-class lifestyle and wellness products in partnership with cannabis operators in legalized states. Prior to her entry into the Cannabis industry, Roz spent 30+ years in the healthcare industry working as a branding and business development executive for powerhouse Fortune 500 companies like Bristol Myers & Squibb, VITAS Corporation, Maxim Healthcare, and Phoenix House.

Carmen Brace is an emerging trends expert with vast experience at the intersection of cannabis, wellness, and the consumer-packaged goods industry. She identified cannabis as a disruptor to consumer health and wellness behavior in 2016 and founded Aclara Research – a consulting firm serving clients across cannabis and consumer packaged goods.

Her futurist mindset and pioneer work ethic led to the first industry studies on cannabis, CBD, and wellness in 2017, identifying CBD as an emerging trend and functional food ingredient. She developed a survey panel of cannabis and CBD consumers and is a consultant to consumer packaged goods, cannabis, and data companies seeking to understand emerging wellness trends.

She is a member of the Illinois Governor’s Committee on Cannabis and Health, serves on the board of directors for Chicago NORML, is an expert witness for the Illinois legislature, and is a featured speaker across many of the industry’s top conferences.  

Lisa is active in the cannabis industry since 2017. In July 2018, she founded MJ_UNIVERSE GmbH, a publisher of digital products (e.g. Krautinvest.de) and a collaborative network to connect companies along the value chain of hemp & cannabis. She works with a network of specialized experts to consult companies looking to navigate the European cannabis ecosystem. 

She holds a degree in business administration (IUBH, Bad Honnef) and a Bachelor of Business (Victoria University, Melbourne) in hospitality management. Lisa worked for many years for companies in strategic and regional sales for Facility Management Services (IFM, TFM, CFM, etc.).

Lisa is a founding member and part of the board of the German industry association BvCW e.V. and an active member of the Cannafem Network - a professional network for women, hemp, and cannabis.

RIV Capital is a cannabis investment and acquisition firm. At RIV Capital, they do more than provide capital – we help build sustainable businesses. their mission is to acquire, invest in, launch, and/or develop U.S. operators and brands across financially and strategically attractive states to create multistate platforms. They have a strong balance sheet, existing domain expertise, strategic relationships, and commitment to making the cannabis industry stronger, faster, better, and smarter. Their goal is to leverage our assets and expertise to accelerate the growth of their investments and acquisitions and return value to their shareholders. Mark Sims is the President and Chief Executive Officer of RIV Capital. Prior to joining RIV Capital, Mark served as Senior Vice President, Strategy and M&A at The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, one of the world’s leading marketers of branded consumer lawn and garden as well as hydroponic and indoor growing products. In this role, he was responsible for leading the corporate strategy department which provides comprehensive strategy support for strategic intelligence, mergers and acquisitions, strategic planning, and internal consulting. He began his career with Scotts in 2007 and has held positions of increasing responsibility in strategy, M&A, enterprise risk management, process transformation, and IT; including serving as the CIO. Prior to joining Scotts Miracle-Gro, Mark spent 15 years in management consulting focused on business transformation to drive growth and productivity. Mark serves on the Board of Directors of the regional health insurance company SummaCare and the Audit and Compliance Committee of their parent Summa Health. He completed the Advanced Management Program at the Wharton School, has a master’s in Industrial Engineering from Cleveland State University, and a bachelor’s in Industrial and Operations Engineering from the University of Michigan.

Nabis With Co-Founder Vince C. Ning today on Plant Prophets with Vern Davis only on The Cannabis Radio. They are the #1 licensed cannabis wholesale platform supporting over 150 brands and supplying the entire network of California dispensaries with top-tier products. Nabis offers clients lightning-fast fulfillment, warehousing, payment processing, financing, data analytics, and sales and marketing services to enable more brands and retailers to innovate, launch, and scale. Founded in 2018 by serial tech entrepreneurs Vince C. Ning and Jun S. Lee., Nabis is fueled by cutting-edge technology designed to support cannabis wholesaling between brands and retailers. Nabis works directly with its partners to streamline the regulated cannabis wholesaling process by leveraging actionable, industry-leading sales data and insights to help brands and retailers scale strategically.

Dr. Norm’s edibles with Roberta Wilson today on Plant Prophets with Vern Davis only on The Cannabis Radio. Roberta is one half, the other half being Jeff Koz, of a brother-sister duo who created Dr. Norm's Edibles. Born and raised in Los Angeles, both siblings initially pursued careers in entertainment; Koz was a composer and producer, and Wilson worked in television.

But after their mother died, Wilson was determined for her mother’s cookies to live on. She started selling cookies to her immediate community and their popularity grew. Koz came on board to help on the marketing side and eventually, their mom’s creations ended up on the shelves of Whole Foods.

Petalfast with Chief Executive Officer Jason Vegotsky today on Plant Prophets with Vern Davis only on The Cannabis Radio. Petalfast is the first-of-its-kind route-through-market platform for the cannabis industry. Petalfast helps cannabis brands achieve rapid growth via its go-to-market accelerator program in California and through its full spectrum of agency services available to brands nationally.

Notable cannabis brands already engaged in the Petalfast platform include Space Coyote, Emerald Sky, Bloom Brands, and Yada Yada. The Company, through its incubator program Pilot by Petalfast, also provides new and recently launched brands with direct access to leading retailers and opportunities to gain first-hand market analysis, while also offering select retailers the opportunity to see future brands before they formally hit the market. Petalfast is taking its business model and expanding into newer, competitive markets.