Geoff Brown is the Director of Agronomic IQ, the most advanced temperature and humidity control equipment in the grow room industry. As one of North America’s leading authorities on HVAC for grow rooms, Geoff participates in various advisory boards in the cannabis industry and is a contributing member to The American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) X653 guideline “Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) for Indoor Plant Environments without Sunlight”, a joint venture project with the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE).
Geoff is a frequent keynote speaker across North America helping to educate growers and engineers about successful HVAC design, specification, selection and installation for indoor farming and grow rooms.
Andy’s thought leadership journey started when he published his first business book in 2007 and first magazines in 2009. Since that time, he has leveraged custom magazines and online digital content strategies to establish himself as a leading authority in content marketing and brand positioning. He is a regular contributor to PROFITguide.com.
Through his company, Carle Publishing Inc., Andy and his team make these strategies and tools accessible to their Client-Partners. They make creating a magazine and publishing online Easy, Effective and Economical. Andy’s 2nd book, How to Win Clients & Influence People, already an International Bestseller on Amazon, is now available.
Ms. Bighash is the Dean of Pharmaceutical & Scientific Affairs and President of AAPS – a registered career college by Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development offering applied education and hands-on training for the pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, Food, Cannabis and allied industry. Currently AAPS is the only college with an approved and registered Cannabis program by the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development of Ontario.
Ms. Bighash has a B.Pharm degree as well as the Bachelor degree in Pharmacology and Toxicology from University of Toronto, Canada. She also obtained her Masters degree in Business Administration (MBA) from Schulich School of Business in Toronto, specializing in Finance and Strategy.
Ms. Bighash is a co-founder and past Editor-in-chief of Canada’s only Pharmaceutical and Biopharmaceutical Trade magazine and a past member of board of directors of Ontario Association of Career Colleges. She has lectured extensively and has been an invited speaker at many academic and industry events. She has extensively consulted and mentored both the employers as well as employees on best hiring and career strategies.
She has over 20 years of experience working for number of multinational pharmaceutical companies such as Genpharm Inc., Bayer Corp. and Eli Lilly & Company and number of Food and Cannabis organizations in various capacities such as Research and Development, Quality Control, Quality Assurance, Regulatory and Compliance, Financial Planning, and Business development.
In her current role as the Dean of Scientific Affairs and President of AAPS, she manages the educational and training direction of the college. Her activities include management of industry and government relations, overseeing of student, faculty, and staff activities and development of education policies and course contents of the AAPS programs. She works closely with pharma, food, and cannabis companies helping graduates and students get a better understanding of the job market and vast career opportunities with the industry.
Jamie Shaw began her cannabis career as a Director of the BC Compassion Club Society, and served as President of the Canadian Association of Medical Cannabis Dispensaries, where she successfully lobbied for, and consulted on, municipal regulations in Vancouver, Victoria, and others prior to legalization. As a consultant she helped many stores navigate the licensing process. She was an expert witness in the Allard trial that won Canadian patients the right to grow for themselves. Shaw helped launch the medical sales platform Shelter Market, served as Chief Communications Officer for Pasha Brands, founding partner of Groundwork Consulting, a co-author of the Lift Retail Cannabis Training Course, and taught a similar course at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. She is an expert witness in the challenge to Manitoba’s ban of personal growing, Chief Strategic Officer for Charlie’s Cannabis Co. and sits on various boards and advisories including the BC Independent Cannabis Association.
Derek has been involved in the development of automated solutions for over 20 years with a focus on logistics and supply chain solutions with Dematic for 16 of those years. Typical solutions include process improvements, best practice logistics methods, performance optimizing software, and material handling automation. He has collaborated with end-users, 3PL companies, and consultants to find optimal solutions for various types of facilities. To develop a solution, Derek and his team use a data driven agnostic approach with an operations focus that includes current state analysis, operations planning, and strategic/tactical planning. As Director of Sales, Derek supports Dematic in providing engineered logistics solutions for operations across Canada.
Ivan Ross joined Diplomat Consulting in 2022 as its Managing Partner. He is widely recognized as a health care industry expert and his experience in this sector dates back to his time with Health Canada when he helped develop several Government of Canada positions regarding healthcare policies and services. Since that time he has worked at H+K Strategies where he supported clients in health care as it pertains to investor relations, communications, regulatory review, strategic partnerships, and government affairs work at the federal, provincial and municipal levels. In 2019, he Ivan Ross joined Eve & Co. and led the company’s EU-GMP certification, government relations, and business development efforts. He holds a Masters in Public Administration from Carleton University and a BA in History from the University of Ottawa.
Dr. Yelton leads the horticultural lighting industry forward in discovering new ways to optimize crop production and elicit desirable plant characteristics through the use of LEDs. Dr. Yelton offers her experience bringing horticultural best-practices to large-scale commercial cannabis production, both for indoor and greenhouse applications. Melanie is one of the industry’s leading experts in using light spectrum to achieve precision in terpene and cannabinoid production and has used these advanced spectral strategies to improve consistency of new cannabis products.
Prior to joining LumiGrow, Melanie served as a research scientist and lecturer at Stanford University. Melanie completed her postdoctoral training at Stanford as National Institutes of Health Fellow studying plant receptors and signaling. She earned a Ph.D. in molecular biology from the University of California, Davis, where her work focused on plant pathogens. She holds an M.S. in the biochemistry of photosynthesis from the University of South Carolina, Columbia and a B.S. in biology from Virginia Tech. The recipient of numerous academic awards and accolades, Melanie holds a patent for her work involving filamentous fungus. Earlier in her career, she served as Director of Sequencing at the Stanford DNA Sequence and Technology Center, a division of the Human Genome Project.
For the past seven years, Corey Herscu has been a laser-focused branding strategist, thought-leader, and publicist.
After graduating the public relations program at The G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education at Ryerson University, Corey began his career working with emerging technology in Canada.
In July 2017, Corey started his firm, RNMKR. As a full-service agency, RNMKR’s clients have been featured in Rolling Stone Magazine, Business Insider, Playboy, Mashable, Cheddar, Uncrate, and many other mainstream outlets regionally and internationally.
RNMKR has created narratives, relationships, and branding opportunities with such brands as Zenabis, TruTrace Technologies (BLOCKStrain), Tinley Beverage Co., O’Cannabiz, Max Zavet & Robes Cannabis, BRNT, Emblem Cannabis, The Supreme Cannabis Company, Weedbox, Origin House (CannaRoyalty), and more.
More recently, since establishing himself as a thought-leader in the cannabis industry, Corey has become a growth consultant for early stage cannabis start-ups, helping define their place in the industry and raise go-to market capital.
Jennifer McKenzie is a partner with Bereskin & Parr LLP, leader of the Regulatory, Advertising & Marketing and co-leader of the Cannabis practice groups.
Jennifer has extensive experience with regulatory, advertising and marketing law. Jennifer reviews advertising and claim substantiation for clients in a wide-range of industry sectors from prepackaged consumer goods to regulated products such as drugs, medical devices, cosmetics, food and alcoholic beverages. Jennifer has represented clients in competitive trade disputes before Ad Standards and the Pharmaceutical Advertising Advisory Board, and provides advice to clients on federal and provincial privacy legislation for the private sector, including Canada’s anti-spam law, and the drafting of consumer facing privacy policies and terms of use. Jennifer helps clients in relation to promotion and contest design. Jennifer also has extensive experience in trademark prosecution and enforcement.
Jennifer is a frequent speaker on marketing and advertising law and intellectual property, and has written extensively in these areas. She is recognized as a leader in her profession in both advertising and intellectual property law and has been ranked in a number of legal directories.
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