Hillary Peckham initially had zero interest when her mother called to see if she’d consider starting a medical marijuana company together. But the younger Peckham changed her mind after researching cannabis and learning the benefits it provides to people across the country. In 2015, Etain Health was born in New York state. As COO – a post she still holds today - Hillary helped steer Etain through the New York market’s lean early days when there was a dearth of patients. But the company...

Christine De La Rosa, the co-founder and CEO of The People’s Ecosystem, a Bay Area cannabis company, started out in the legacy market where she built a community of cannabis customers and talent. De La Rosa also started and ran restaurants, galleries and other “mainstream businesses,” gathering executive experience. But that mainstream experience didn’t prepare De La Rosa for the unique challenges of being in cannabis, such as 280E and raising capital for a federally illegal venture. De La...

Ruben Lindo spent more than 20 years in the legacy cannabis market before a bounced check landed him in federal prison for 14 months. After getting out, Lindo briefly worked at a small construction start-up in upstate New York but in 2015 entered the cannabis industry as an advisor to an aspiring cannabis investor. Together, they founded CBD-focused Phoenix Nutraceuticals in 2018, and Lindo founded his THC-focused cultivation company, Black Mar Farms in 2019.   To make his cannabis...

MJBizCon conference organizer Stacy Putt gives the inside scoop on how to score a coveted speaking role at MJBizCon. Plus, a rebroadcast of our conversation with  actor-turned-cannabis business owner Jim Belushi. Belushi shares his story on how he pivoted from stage and screen to farm and field. He’ll share insights about launching a cannabis operation, converting an outdoor grow into a greenhouse grow, and switching from conventional lights to LED lights, as well as farming mistakes,...

Papa & Barkley CEO Guy Rocourt is out to right the “outright wrongs” in cannabis, he tells host Chris Walsh in this episode of Seed to CEO.   The legacy market grower and processor has leveraged this ethos to build one of the cannabis industry’s most respected and successful companies. But it also took acquiring and implementing new business skills, something that Rocourt learned the hard way. Rocourt, a U.S. Navy veteran who did submarine duty, takes listeners on a deep dive to...

Scott Kenyon brought decades of tech company and board experience when he joined the board of Würk, a Denver-based payroll and human resources software company serving the cannabis industry. But when Kenyon was suddenly thrust into the CEO role a year-and-a-half ago, he had to switch gears from being an interested advisor to the company pilot. Being a tech industry veteran, Kenyon was somewhat in familiar territory, but this was cannabis, unlike any other industry he’d been in. What did...

When Ankur Rungta wanted to break into the cannabis industry, he didn’t study cultivation or extraction. Instead, Rungta joined a top tier corporate law firm and later a Wall Street investment boutique where he sharpened his legal, finance and M&A chops. That gave him the expertise to launch Michigan-based C3 Industries, a vertically integrated cannabis company now in four states and going for more. But how did Rungta survive the challenges that finance and law couldn’t prepare him for...

Joe Bayern wants to make Curaleaf the “first truly national cannabis company in the U.S.” and with operations in 23 states, Curaleaf is getting there.   What did it take?   Bayern leveraged decades of experience in the beverage sector and other industries. Once at Curaleaf, he executed, taking it from 2,000 employees when he joined in 2019 to 5,500 today.   Key insights he’s learned along the way include:   Don’t underestimate the amount of change and the pace of the industry; be ready to...

Katie Stem’s journey to a career in cannabis started with traditional Western medicine studies in college. That path took a left turn, however, when she was introduced to natural remedies while researching at Oregon Heath & Science University. She switched gears and completed a master’s degree in Chinese medicine instead. She decided to ply her entrepreneurial skills and medicinal expertise to launch Peak Extracts. Katie’s expertise, however, didn’t shield her from sexism and homophobia...

When wildfires struck Northern California a few years ago, much of Erin Gore’s life literally went up in smoke. The CEO of the Garden Society, a vertically integrated craft cannabis company in Sonoma County, came dangerously close to taking a finance deal that could have led to professional and financial disaster. But an astute and supportive business coach suggested another path for Erin, and today the Garden Society is on the cusp of going multistate. In this episode of “Seed to CEO,” Erin...

In 2014, Sundie Seefried was six months from retiring as CEO of Partner Colorado Credit Union when she learned about the banking barriers for the cannabis industry. She postponed retirement to create a program that would provide safer, better banking options for operators. The result was Safe Harbor Financial, which has since processed more than $12 billion in cannabis-related funds and plans to go public on the Nasdaq soon. In this episode, Sundie shares: How she got dragged into the taboo...

When Washington DC and Louisiana launched their respective medical cannabis markets, many entrepreneurs questioned whether the restrictive frameworks could be viable for businesses. But Chanda Macias saw opportunities to help shape those markets into communities focused on helping patients. Now, Chanda operates a dispensary in Washington DC and one of two licensed cultivation and manufacturing operations in Louisiana. Her deep roots and efforts at community-building led to one of the oldest...

On a trip to India in the late 2000s, Raj Grover walked by a paraphernalia store selling glass pipes for pennies, accessories that would retail in Canada for $20. While he wasn’t a cannabis user at the time, Raj saw an opportunity. He parlayed that New Delhi encounter into a 500-square-foot head shop in Calgary with two employees. That lone outlet has grown into High Tide, a Canadian retail powerhouse with more than 100 cannabis stores. In this episode of “Seed to CEO,” Raj shares: How he...

When Tripp Keber co-founded Denver-based Dixie Elixirs, he didn’t fully understand the ride he was stepping onto. Dixie quickly became one of the best-known brands in the market, and Tripp became a face of the industry, appearing on several mainstream documentaries about the newly legal product. After years in the limelight, Tripp realized that he preferred starting new businesses than managing established ones and made a graceful exit to remake himself – as a cannabis advisor via his new...

Meg Sanders has been paving the way for cannabis industry pioneers for more than a dozen years. As an early advocate for Colorado’s medical market and CEO of Mindful, one of the state’s first cannabusiness, Meg possesses a rare institutional knowledge of what one of the nation’s first marijuana markets looked like and what it took to survive. She then brought her Western U.S. sensibilities to Massachusetts’ red-tape heavy rec market, establishing Canna Provisions. In this episode of Seed to...

Ricardo Baca made his cannabis industry name as the first marijuana editor at The Denver Post. The skills and connections he garnered in that career gave him the confidence to launch his own public relations venture, Grasslands, in 2016, but journalism didn’t provide him the business acumen required for success. In this episode of “Seed to CEO,” Ricardo talks with MJBiz CEO Chris Walsh about learning the ropes to create a successful firm. Ricardo shares: The critical role mentors played in...

Jessica Billingsley's first foray into the cannabis industry was a direct investment in one of the first licensed marijuana companies in Colorado. But when she was tasked with identifying software to support the endeavor, she failed to find anything. So Jessica turned that vacuum into an opportunity and developed a seed-to-sale software, known as MJ Freeway, for the new industry. In this episode, Jessica talks about her journey from interested investor to CEO of a publicly traded cannabis...

An eviction notice on 4/20. That’s how Jesce Horton’s first foray into state-licensed cannabis cultivation ended in 2017. Part of it had to do with a one-in-a-million regulatory quirk that forced him to shut down a successful grow, and part of it was not being “passionate” about a not-so-successful retail arm. But Jesce remained confident in his process and product while never losing his love for the craft, so he tried again. The result is Lowd, Horton’s “dream company” that “embodies the art...

When Ricky Williams retired from the NFL in 2004, the headlines were overwhelmingly negative: “Famous football player gives up everything for pot.” But instead of becoming a story of downfall, the 1998 Heisman Trophy winner went on to study herbology and create his opportunity in the cannabis industry – after returning to terrorize NFL defenses for six more seasons. In this episode of Seed to CEO, Ricky and CEO Eric Hammond share insights on how they’re building a community with their...

Amber Littlejohn cut her teeth helping craft policy for an industry built around “a regulated herbal product that the government doesn’t like” with the American Herbal Products Association. But when she began consulting for the Minority Cannabis Business Association in 2019, she found herself in love with a new challenge. In this episode of Seed to CEO, Amber talks about how she’s helped evolve the organization around its core mission of helping entrepreneurs access and thrive in cannabis...

Simon Nankervis led some of the biggest names in retail - American Eagle, DSW, Aldo Canada - before joining The Source in Nevada. But it took a dressing down from a subordinate before he really started to understand cannabis consumers. “In this business, you impact people’s lives every single day,” he told Seed to CEO. In this episode, Simon shares what led to that epiphany, as well as: Why it’s important to immerse yourself in the cannabis business culture before making big changes. How...

For Hope Jones’ first cannabis job, she served as chief science officer for a grower in Arizona. But as a newbie to the industry, she lacked the confidence to speak out against veterans making easy-to-avoid mistakes, despite her expertise. As frustration built, she saw an opportunity to bring clean-tissue culture to an industry struggling to get solid genetics. Today, the plant biologist operates two companies – a consulting firm focused on plant health and an R&D company that develops...

The cannabis industry wasn’t front of mind when Cassandra Farrington set out to launch a resource for entrepreneurs. But as she and her business partner were looking for the right segment to provide their skill sets to back in 2010, the cannabis industry found them. Eventually the two set aside their other business endeavors to focus on building MJBiz into the brand you see today. In this episode of Seed to CEO, Cassandra shares: What she saw as the opportunity in the cannabis industry in...

When John Lord started in the cannabis industry, he was viewed with suspicion by legacy operators because he was an outsider. But the CEO of Denver-based LivWell quickly became a believer, but he still needed standard business practices to sell it. In the season finale, John dishes on: •Why looking beyond today’s ecosystem is critical for long-term growth •How changing regs set the stage for LivWell’s acquisition strategy •Why now was the right time for LivWell to be the acquired rather than th

While Jeannette Ward Horton loved her time in corporate America, she wanted to do something more meaningful. Enter: cannabis. Jeannette noticed a gap in participation between white owners & others, so she decided to change it by founding NuProject with her husband, Jesce Horton. In this episode: •What BIPOC communities need to benefit from the burgeoning industry •What it takes to launch a program like NuProject •Where the industry can do better