FOUNDER, SOLOMON WILSON

Joanne Wilson is a dynamic entrepreneur, angel investor, and philanthropist with a diverse career spanning multiple industries. As an early-stage angel investor, she built a portfolio of over 150 companies, focusing on supporting female entrepreneurs and businesses that align with her values. Joanne is the founder and CEO of Gotham, a concept store where cannabis meets culture. In business and beyond, Joanne is steadfastly committed to philanthropy and social justice. She serves as the Chair of The Public Housing Community Fund and sits on the board of Friends of the High Line. With her husband, Fred Wilson, Joanne founded Gotham Gives, their family's public charity dedicated to initiatives that improve the quality of life for all New Yorkers. They also built Frame Home, building homes for the future.

ACTING EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF CANNABIS MANAGEMENT

Felicia A. B. Reid has been appointed Executive Deputy Director and Acting Executive Director. In this role, Felicia will oversee major operational and regulatory functions of the office including licensing, compliance, and enforcement. She will manage the implementation of the OCM Assessment Team's recommendations in partnership with OCM leadership and staff.

Felicia has over a decade of experience in State government and spent the last six years at the Office of Children and Family Services, including overseeing statewide juvenile justice operations as Deputy Commissioner. She is admitted to the New York State Bar Association and earned her law degree from New York Law School. She also has a Bachelor of Arts from Fordham University.

POLICY DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF CANNABIS MANAGEMENT

John Kagia serves as the Director of Policy for the Office of Cannabis Management. He leads the team responsible for policy development and implementation for the medical, adult use, and cannabinoid hemp programs in New York. John also manages development of research and data systems to measure and track industry performance, and he oversees deployment of the Office’s educational public health campaigns. Since joining the cannabis industry in 2014, John has been a pioneering industry analyst delivering groundbreaking research into emerging global markets, investment and capital flows, supply chain trends, product innovation, and evolving consumer behavior. He works with policy makers, investors, and business owners to capitalize on emerging opportunities, hedge against risk, and predict market defining trends. Prior to joining the cannabis industry, John spent a decade delivering market research and strategic intelligence to high-performing organizations across the federal government, technology, and non-profit sectors.

SENIOR EQUITY ANALYST, BLOOMBERG INTELLIGENCE

Kenneth Shea is a senior analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence, a unique research platform that provides context on industries, companies, credit, and government policy, available on the Bloomberg Professional Service at BI <GO>. Mr. Shea oversees consumer products research content and related value-added data displays covering the beverage, tobacco and cannabis products industries.

SENIOR DIRECTOR, FTI CONSULTING

Sammy Markland is a Senior Director in FTI Consulting’s Denver, Colorado office and is a member of FTI’s multidisciplinary Cannabis practice. Ms. Markland combines her accounting and finance experience to quantify economic damages and value assets in a variety of circumstances in the cannabis industry. She has led numerous engagements involving the valuation of businesses, ownership interests and assets for transactions, pre-IPO analyses, corporate planning, litigation, and dispute resolution. She has experience in nearly all legal U.S. cannabis markets, medical and recreational alike, and has worked with private and public companies across the United States, Canada and other international markets. She has significant experience analyzing financial, accounting and market data to help her clients solve complex financial, legal and economic issues and has been retained as an expert witness for diverse industries and venues.

MANAGING DIRECTOR, ARLINGTON CAPITAL ADVISORS

Dai joined Arlington in 2021 and is focused on growing the firm’s cannabis practice. Prior to joining Arlington, Dai served as VP Corporate Development for Left Coast Ventures, a diversified cannabis and hemp company specializing in cultivation, manufacturing, brand development and distribution. Prior to Left Coast Ventures, Dai held various corporate development and investment positions at MedMen, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Austin Ventures and Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Dai graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

PARTNER, FOLEY HOAG LLC

With 18 years of legal practice and 6 years in the cannabis industry, Jeff leverages his legal expertise and deep cannabis industry knowledge to serve as a trusted adviser to cannabis industry operators, investors and ancillary businesses on early-stage corporate structuring and financing, joint ventures, M&A, strategic partnerships, and commercial contract negotiations of all types, as well as state and federal regulatory matters.

CO-FOUNDER & EXECUTIVE EDITOR, GREEN MARKET REPORT

Debra Borchardt is the Co-founder and Executive Editor of the award-winning Green Market Report cannabis financial news website. Debra previously worked for 8 years at TheStreet.com with Jim Cramer where she was a Senior Producer. She began her career on Wall Street and was a Vice President at Bear Stearns. She has a Master's Degree in Business and Economic Reporting from New York University and has won several journalism awards.

CEO & LEAD CONSULTANT, QUANTA CONSULTING

Mitchell is a sought after cannabis industry consultant, advisor and thought leader. He has helped 220+ cannabis producers, brands and retailers around the world with their mission-critical strategy, operations, capital markets and branding needs. Mitchell's unique insights and best practices can be found in the Cannabis Management Review at: mitchellosak.substack.com. He is a P&G alumni and received his MBA from the University of Toronto.

REPORTER, POLITICO

Mona Zhang is the states cannabis policy reporter for POLITICO Pro. Previously, she was the founder and editor of the cannabis newsletter Word on the Tree. She also spent four years covering the cannabis beat as a freelance journalist for Forbes, The Outline, High Times and more. Before that, she served as Social Editor for Adweek and worked in various roles for Mediabistro.

CANNABIS ATTORNEY, JEFFREY HOFFMAN & ASSOCIATES PLLC

Jeffrey is a cannabis attorney and legalization activist with over 25 years of experience starting, operating, advising, and selling businesses. He is a leader in promoting pro bono advocacy for the rights of those impacted by anti-cannabis enforcement in the United States. Jeffrey holds a JD from the University of North Carolina School of Law and a BA in Russian and East European Studies from the University of North Carolina.

SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, THE CITY

Rosalind Adams is a senior investigative reporter at THE CITY, where she writes about cannabis legalization in New York. Previously, she was an investigative reporter at BuzzFeed News and Barron’s. She has also written for New York Magazine, the Guardian and ProPublica.

FOUNDER & CEO, MATTIO COMMUNICATIONS

Rosie Mattio is founder and CEO of MATTIO Communications, a full-service communications firm specializing in the cannabis industry. Prior to opening MATTIO, Rosie started her career at Alison Brod Public Relations and also worked at Rubenstein Associates. She received a degree in Public Relations/Image Management from Boston University. Before bringing her talents to the cannabis space, Rosie promoted several clients in the technology and food & beverage industries.

CO-FOUNDER & CEO, PROHIBITION PARTNERS

Stephen is Co-Founder & CEO of Prohibition Partners, a global leader in cannabis tech, data and media. Stephen is a highly regarded cannabis thought leader, who frequently contributes to Bloomberg, Financial Times and The Economist on the industry and is a regular public speaker, having presented at over 100 events including – SXSW and Adweek. He collaborates with investors, entrepreneurs and regulators to identify, qualify and maximize the opportunities in the global cannabis industry. With a background in technology, digital media and corporate finance, Stephen has worked with clients such as Unilever, Sony Pictures and Universal Music.

CO-FOUNDER, THE CANNABIS COLLECTIVE

Shahbaaz Kara-Virani (SKV) lives at the intersection of technology, revenue & leadership. He spent 7 years at Salesforce before building top companies in the global cannabis industry including Lift & Co, Dutchie, & KIND.

SPEAKER APPLICATIONS REMAIN OPEN

Since 2021, Business of Cannabis: New York has welcomed some of the most influential names in the North American cannabis industry to the stage.

Apply to join our carefully curated lineup of regulators, industry leaders, investors and innovators to provide invaluable insight into driving investment and accelerating retail growth.

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