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Tamara Lilien

Tamara Lilien

Coming from a 14 year background in Palliative Care, Tamara has a keen understanding of gaps that exist in the health care system. After experiencing the medical benefits of cannabis firsthand, she transitioned into a career in Cannabis Education and Consulting. Tamara believes strongly that all Canadians deserve easy access to cannabis and associated resources for both medical and recreational purposes.

As one of less than 10,000 people worldwide to hold a Cannabis Sommelier Certification, Tamara was selected from 25,000 applicants to serve on AHLOT’S Cannabis Curation Committee (ahlot.com/ccc). To enhance her current certifications, she will be taking the Cannabis Educator for Health Care Professionals course offered by Michener Institute and UHN in early 2020. Tamara works as a career coach for the Cannabis Career Network, regularly speaks at cannabis events and on panels, facilitates educational workshops, hosts exclusive sommelier experiences and theme-parties, and is the founder of CannaLily Consulting (cannalily.ca).

Taylor Carr

Taylor Carr

Taylor Carr is currently the Cultivation & Horticulture Manager at WeedMD.

Taylor is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day cultivation operations at WeedMD’s modern greenhouse in Strathroy, Ontario. With its recent expansion into more than 20 specialized grow rooms inside a 610,000 square foot hybrid greenhouse, Taylor oversees all elements of WeedMD’s cannabis production.

Most recently, the Company expanded production to include 27-acres of outdoor cannabis cultivation on its Strathroy property. Widely recognized as a leader in growing outdoor cannabis, WeedMD will harvest its first crop in the fall of 2019.

Together with his team, they monitor cultivation using microclimates technology to control the variables that ensure cannabis plants get appropriate light, temperature, humidity and nutrients to produce high-grade yields.

Joining the Company in 2016 as a research assistant, Taylor acquired valuable hands-on experience learning the cannabis business from the ground up, quickly advancing into production supervisory roles and cultivation leadership roles. Working closely with WeedMD’s head growers, Taylor was instrumental in helping to build the Company’s world-renown library of cannabis strains.

Taylor holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Plant Biology & Biological Sciences from the University of Mount Olive. He is also certified in Cannabis Production and Facility Management from Kwantlen Polytechnical Institute.

A native of St. Thomas, Ontario, Taylor is based at WeedMD’s Strathroy site though often travels to WeedMD’s Aylmer, Ontario facility which is currently undergoing a transformation as the Company expands into the extraction and concentrates business.

Patty Comeau

Patty Comeau is a gender nonconforming cannabis cultivator from the East Coast. They are Alternate Master Grower for AMP, a family-owned company based in New Brunswick.

Jason Guttridge

Jason Guttridge

Jason is a Co-Founder and CEO of 7 Farms Down which is in the pre LP stage of obtaining their licence for the 2020 outdoor growing season. Located in the municipality of Chatham-Kent – an agricultural hub and one of Ontario’s southern most regions – Jason was born and raised on a multi-generational century farm where they have grown cash crops for six generations.

He obtained his Associates Degree in Human Resources from St. Clair College and his Bachelors of Business Administration in Management from Davenport University in Michigan. Spending almost 10 years as an investment advisor, Jason has also worked with a non-profit lobbying for independent businesses and provided consulting for small and medium sized enterprises in Human Resources.

Pari Nejatie, BSc

Pari Nejatie, BSc

A trusted advisor to many long-term clients, with expertise in all aspects of C-suite recruiting, including CEO, CFO, Operations, Sales & Marketing, and Human Resources functions across a broad range of industries.
For nearly two decades, Pari has utilized extensive experience and expertise across all industries to support and help secure the most talented people – in the shortest possible time. By sourcing, assessing, recruiting, developing and engaging the best and brightest for her corporate clients, Pari is an invaluable partner in helping improve human capital performance of the organization by responding to ever-changing marketing conditions and capitalizing on emerging business opportunities. Pari works diligently to provide her clients professional recruitment with honesty, integrity and professional excellence.

Mark Spear

Mark Spear

Mark is the founder and CEO of the Wildfire Collective, the President of the Ontario Cannabis Association, a passionate medical cannabis advocate, cultivator and industry veteran. Wildfire is Canada’s first network of sustainable, small-batch, organic cannabis farms.

Manjit Minhas

Manjit Minhas

As a judge on CBC’s Dragons’ Den, MANJIT MINHAS shares business lessons with equal parts force and finesse. An entrepreneur herself, Minhas runs the 10th largest brewery in the world—worth a whopping 187 million dollars. Her unprecedented success in a male-dominated field demolished stereotypes, surprised competitors, and cleared a path for entrepreneurs of every age and gender. In talks, she distills the hands-on lessons of her success, showing audiences how they can embrace change, defy expectations, and incentivize disruption.

Dragon’s Den celebrity judge Manjit Minhas has been able to do what few ever thought possible—break into the notoriously competitive and male-dominated beer and spirits industry. Minhas Breweries, Distilleries and Winery, which Minhas co-founded with her brother Ravinder, is now the 10th largest brewery in the world, producing over 90 brands of beer, spirits, liquor, and wine. She is now the sole owner, President, and CEO of the company, which has served over 1 billion pints of beer to date. With sharp strategy and keen understanding of the market, Minhas has been able to break down traditional barriers and turn her small business into an empire. Originally trained as an engineer, Minhas is now a specialist in brand development, marketing, sales, and retail negotiations.

Minhas purchased the second oldest brewery in the United States and renamed it The Minhas Craft Brewery, officially making her the youngest brewery owner in the world. She also opened The Minhas Micro Brewery, which make world-class craft beers and specialty beers, such as a gluten-free options for people with Celiac disease. With her background in engineering, Minhas strives to minimize the environmental impact of her company, producing beer using the least amount of cleaning and water treatment chemicals, gas, electricity, and water.

Minhas is the author of the book Brewing Up a Damn Good Story and has received many awards, including Canada’s Women Executive Network’s Top 100 Women Entrepreneurs, Profit’s Top Growth Entrepreneur, and Chatelaine’s Top Entrepreneur Woman of The Year. She’s been profiled in Maclean’s, The Globe and Mail, and The National, and was recently named one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40, a distinction honoring outstanding Canadian leaders.

Paul Pederson

Paul Pederson

Paul Pedersen is co-founder and CEO of Nextleaf Solutions (CSE: OILS), the first public company to be issued a U.S. patent for industrial-scale extraction & purification of cannabinoids. Nextleaf owns a portfolio of 3 issued and 24 pending patents pertaining to the company’s unique, industrial-scale process of extraction purification of cannabinoids, and formulation of THC and CBD based products. Paul has been focused on the cannabis industry since 2013. He holds a MBA in Finance from the Eli Broad Graduate School of Management at Michigan State University.