erry Donnelly is a serial entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience. Immediately prior to joining Hill Street, he served as Chief Marketing Officer, Canada for MDC Partners (NASDAQ:MDCA), the largest Canadian marketing services company with $1.3Bn in revenues and over 17,000 employees. Prior to MDC, Terry served as the co-founder, CMO, and Chairman of Adcentricity and Bee Media, and as the Executive Vice-President, Digital at Mandrake.
Terry also has significant governance and leadership experience, having previously served as a director of Brainhunter Inc. (TSX:BH), Atlantis Systems Corp. (TSX:AIQ), Active Control Technologies (TSX-V:ACT), SilverBirch Inc. (TSX-V:SVB), China Opportunity Inc. (TSX-V:COC.P), and a director and advisor to numerous privately held companies, mainly in the early stage technology sector. He has raised nearly $100MM in venture capital and executed over two dozen acquisitions during his career.
Terry is the co-founder of the Cannabis Beverage Producers Alliance, a national organization representing the unique interests of beverage producers for the purposes of lobbying and public education.
Hill Street Beverage Company is the world’s most award-winning company exclusively focused on alcohol-free beer, wine, and adult format beverages. Hill Street’s great-tasting products include Hill Street Craft Brewed Lager, Designated Draft alcohol-free beer, Vin(Zero) wines, and Vintense wines, and have won numerous medals and accolades including three Gold, two Silver, and two Bronze Medals at the U.S. Open Beer Championships, the Retail Council of Canada’s Grand Prix award, and a prestigious Double Gold Medal at the San Francisco International Wine Challenge. Hill Street will also produce and sell cannabis-infused adult beverages beginning in Spring 2020. Check out Hill Street’s award-winning line-up and order product to be delivered straight to your home at www.hillstreetbeverages.com.
Adam is a veteran executive of the cannabis space and is one of the early industry adopters, helping propel Westleaf forward by leading and executing its retail roll-out in Western Canada. As one of the first to join the company, Adam spearheaded the creation and launch of Westleaf’s unique retail brand, Prairie Records. He has led the brand development of Westleaf’s proprietary suite of products which includes Loon – a health and wellness line, in addition to, Backstage and General Admission, two premium recreational lines. With a strong passion for creativity and an ability to be agile in an ever-changing industry, Adam has played a pivotal role in helping carve out a strong position for Prairie Records in the Canadian cannabis market.
He brings a wealth of experience in regulated consumer-packaged good sales and marketing initiatives. Prior to Westleaf, Adam was Vice President of Specialty Sales at Labatt Breweries of Canada, where he was responsible for over $70 million in revenue and overall volume and revenue growth in eight major urban centres across Canada. Prior to that, Adam served as Senior Manager of Finance at Labatt, where he led the business integration, including brand expansion and budgeting plans, for the acquisitions of Mill Street Brewery and Mark Anthony Brands. Adam holds an Honors Degree in Business Administration from the Richard Ivey School of Business.
Adam is a passionate advocate for creating a memorable and distinct consumer experience and is a highly sought-after speaker in the growing cannabis retail sector.
Founder and President of Validationtech Inc., International Medical Cannabis Association and NACPT Pharma College.
Rathi Param is the president/founder of the International Medical Cannabis Association (IMCA), North American College of Pharmaceutical Technology (NACPT) and Validation Tech Inc. Rathi earned her B.Sc. in Chemistry from University Ottawa and Post Graduate Pharmaceutical QA & QC Certification from SRN Institute. She is in the process of earning her MBA in Technology from the University of Phoenix
She is an innovative and creative leader with more than fifteen years of hands-on experience in many scientific industries (medical cannabis, medical devices, environmental, food, pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical), complemented with fifteen years of corporate training experience. She possesses extensive expertise and knowledge of Quality Control, Quality Assurance, Formulation, Validation, Technology Transfer, Manufacturing Technology, Process Improvements, Auditing, and Inspection. Currently, Rathi is also taking the role of Quality Assurance Person (QAP) for Green Amber Canada (Pending Cannabis Producer). In addition, Rathi has been assisting medical cannabis companies in regards to setting quality management systems and validation programs.
In the past 15+ years, Rathi has held strategic management roles in major Canadian name brand/generic pharmaceutical companies. Validation Scientist at Patheon Inc., Validation Services Manager at Sanofi Pasteur Limited, Toronto., Validation Specialist at CibaVision, Mississauga., Validation Quality Engineer (Consultant) at iPOC, Toronto, QA Director at CMAX Technologies, Validation Director at Canabox Inc., and Quality Assurance Person in charge at Green Amber Canada, Vancouver to name a few.
She was a guest speaker and presenter in many universities’ panels, conferences and mentoring events. In the year 2017, she successfully conducted a NACPT Medical Cannabis Education Conference at the University of Toronto.
Her interest in helping graduates to commence their careers in the pharmaceutical and related industries was the motivation to launch both NACPT Pharma College and Validation Tech, to provide hands-on training and create a platform to direct the pathway to successful recruitment by the pharmaceutical and related companies.
Sonny Brar comes with over 16 years of Corporate Retail, Human Resources, Health, Safety, Energy and Environmental experience. He is currently the Vice President of Member Relations and Education at the Retail Council of Canada and is an honors graduate of Criminology, Justice and Public Safety from Manitoba. Along with other functions, Sonny leads and supports RCC’s Membership, Education, Benefit Partner Programs, Human Resources, Health, Safety, Accessibility, Energy initiatives and is the Chair for RCC’s Loss Prevention and Human Resources Advisory Councils. Sonny has also had great successes in his tenure and has been a recipient of 3 Presidential Excellence awards with Maple Leaf Foods and Toys“R”Us along with several successes and recognition with his tenure at Sobeys and Ikea.
Clayton graduated with a biology degree from the University of Toronto in 1981. After working in a contract laboratory for five years in 1986 he joined Dionex Corporation and sold Liquid Chromatography and Supercritical Fluid Extraction (also known as CO2 Extraction) systems. For the past ten years he has worked as a technical representative for ATS-Scientific Inc and specializes in Microwave Extraction & Digestion, Particle Characterization and Nanoemulsion Production.
Dale Overton is the CEO of Overton Environmental Enterprises Inc. and Founder of EcoTea, an advanced liquid biological soil/crop amendment. Dale is seasoned ecologist with over 15 years of experience in soil and aquatic ecology. Dale has an exceptional knowledge of how functional microbes can be utilized in plant systems to improve plant health and quality of desired parameters.
Dale works with some of the largest farms in Canada and has also been head hunted to work on urban land reclamation projects in the USA. Dale has significant experience in the Cannabis industry as well.
Further to that, Dale works with large food processing and forestry companies helping to transform organic waste streams into value add, innovative products. Dale is a passionate scientist and enjoys sharing information to help create more sustainable and profitable cropping systems.
Prior to his role at the Friendly Stranger, James earned an MBA from the University of Guelph and gained significant experience as Regional Director of Operations at Starbucks, responsible for approximately 100 locations. Additionally, James spent five years running and re-branding restaurant giant Jack Astor’s look and feel before settling in as President of Friendly Stranger Holdings Corp.
He’s been indispensable in helping merge the brand with cannabis accessory retail chain, Happy Dayz to secure a strategic and competitive position in the Canadian cannabis space. This lofty acquisition proved to be an exciting move for The Friendly Stranger’s expansive future.
In an ever-changing industry where the rules are in constant flux, James remains reliably in alignment with quality organizations that maintain honesty and integrity in business. These words aptly describe James himself. His goal is simple, create a brand that reflects the very best in cannabis while serving communities and legitimizing the sector. This is an easy objective for a father of two teenagers with a penchant for sailing and riding motorcycles in his free time.
With more than a decade of experience developing and commercializing technologies for human diagnostics, food safety, and agriculture, Dr. Vaught brings a diverse background with both a strong scientific and practical business acumen.
As CEO and Co-Founder of Front Range Biosciences, Dr. Vaught drives the evolution of modern agriculture through science, improving reliability and efficiency for farmers and consumers. He has built a team of horticulturalists, scientists, and supply chain professionals who are moving the needle forward in a sustainable, innovative way.
Prior to founding FRB, Dr. Vaught served as the Director of Assay Development for Velocity Sciences, and Senior Scientist for Beacon Biotechnology and SomaLogic. He is an inventor on two patents and an author on seven publications in peer reviewed journals. He received his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Dr. Vaught also operates a small farm at his residence in Colorado and is the founder of Mountain Flower Dairy, a 501c3 non-profit in Boulder, focused on providing educational opportunities for the local community to learn about animal husbandry and where their food comes from.
Dr. Newmaster is a botany professor specializing in plant diversity, medicinal plants and DNA identification systems. He has more than 100 publications including numerous scientific journal articles, floristic treatments and books. He has supervised over 220 HQP including visiting scientists from around the globe and he lectures to over 2000 university students every year. His research program has generated over $7 million dollars in research, funded by NSERC, SSHRC, CIDA, Genome Canada, OMAFRA, CFI, OCE, CIDA-IDRC, MEDI, NRC and more. His research lab is situated within the Centre for Biodiversity Genomics (CBG) at the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario. Currently he is conducting leading international research on biodiversity, genomic diversity and the development of molecular diagnostic tools for plant identification. His R&D has impacted Canadian policy on biodiversity, and international trade of herbal products including product authentication and certification standards within the food and natural product industry within Canada, USA, E.U. and Asia.
In Michael Foy’s 26 years in the logistics industry, he has helped clients large and small in consulting on operational solutions that help retailers and manufacturers to optimize their supply chains. His areas of expertise include recalls, improving efficiency, reducing the cost of returns and improving data visibility business intelligence tools.
Michael’s areas of expertise include all retail and manufacturer reverse logistics for the cannabis industry (both recreational and pharma), with specialties in recalls, reverse logistics efficiency, reducing the cost of returns and improving data visibility through business intelligence tools.
He currently serves as the director of business development for Inmar, with deep experience in solving challenges in the unique supply chain needs of CPG retailers, manufacturers and wholesalers as well as in healthcare and pharmacy.
Prior to Inmar, Michael held a number of technical and sales management roles with Airborne Express and DHL. Michael holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Information Decision Sciences from University of Illinois.
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