Entering the Cannabis Industry

Licensing, Regulatory Policy & Getting Projects Off of the Ground

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  Michelle Garakian

  Michelle Garakian serves as Interim Executive Director for the City of Los Angeles Department of Cannabis Control. Ms. Garakian works closely with city partners, community and industry leaders to implement a comprehensive Social Equity Program, craft and track policy that will support the high-growth cannabis industry, and manage the department’s Policy and Community Engagement team. Ms. Garakian previously served as the Director of Legislative Policy in Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Office of Legislative and External Affairs. In this role, she helped to develop and implement a comprehensive approach to the Mayor’s legislative agenda, with particular focus on the LA City Council. Prior to this role, she was the Director of the Mayor’s Business Team where she worked to find business solutions, big and small, to various challenges and turned lessons learned into macro business policy to enhance the City’s economy.

  City of LA Department of Cannabis Regulation

  Interim Executive Director

  Michelle Garakian

  Interim Executive Director

  City of LA Department of Cannabis Regulation

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  Adam Spiker

  Adam Spiker is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Southern California Coalition—the largest, most inclusive cannabis trade organization in world’s largest cannabis market, Southern California—and the vice president of Spiker Consulting Group, a third-generation government affairs consulting firm with more than 150 years of experience working for clients on state and federal issues. As the Southern California Coalition Executive Director, Spiker brings more than 15 years of experience working in government relations working across a variety of heavily regulated industries, and helping organizations, advocacy groups, and businesses coalition build, city plan, and the cannabis industry implement responsible policies in Los Angeles, other municipalities, throughout California, and at the federal level. Most recently, Adam played an instrumental role in the passing of Southern California Coalition-backed Proposition M—the world’s most comprehensive cannabis legalization regulatory framework to legalization, which provides the City of Los Angeles with a regulatory framework to fairly license, tax, regulate, and enforce the state-legal cannabis industry in the City of Los Angeles. The measure also creates a landmark social equity program aimed at ensuring those, who have been most impacted by cannabis prohibition, have equal opportunities to participate in the emerging sector. In addition to shepherding the passing of Proposition M, which overwhelming passed in Los Angeles with more than 80% of the vote, Spiker is currently helping Southern California Coalition members navigate the shifting and complex regulatory issues facing the cannabis sector and aggressively working to ensure fair cannabis policies are implemented, so small businesses are afforded a fair opportunity to apply for state and local licenses. Prior to joining Southern California Coalition and Spiker Consulting Group, Adam served in roles at: a principle at Ken Spiker and Associates, where he helped startup, small- and medium-sized, and Fortune 500 businesses navigate critical government relations issues and develop political advocacy strategies; as a founding partner at Access Capital helping businesses across the country secure funding and financial services; and as a financier at Cabrera Capital Markets, delivering asset management, investment banking, and full-service institutional brokerage services worldwide to a substantial and diversified client base, including public and private pensions, financial institutions, unions, governments, corporations, foundations and endowments, and sovereign wealth funds. Adam holds a bachelor of arts degree from the University of California, resides in Orange County with his wife Carrie and his young son Trevor, and has been featured as a cannabis industry policy expert in media outlets such as the Los Angeles Times, Forbes, Entrepreneur, McClatchy Washington Bureau, LA Weekly, LA Daily News, Leafly, Cannabis Business Times, along with other media outlets.

  Southern California Coalition

  Co-Founder & Executive Director

  Adam Spiker

  Co-Founder & Executive Director

  Southern California Coalition

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  Ellis Smith

  Mr. Smith has 22 years of horticultural experience, 15 years owning and operating businesses, and 2 years of international business experience in Kyrgyzstan Central Asia. Working in the specialty cut flower market and running indoor gardens early in his career helped him to understand complex growing systems and production protocols while developing his master gardening skills. Some of his accomplishments include assisting in the identification of the Hemp Russet Mite within the Colorado medical cannabis market and working with SKUNK magazine to enlighten and educate the industry. Additional articles in SKUNK magazine highlighted his use of the True Living Organics (TLO)cultivation methodology in a regulated commercial market. He has featured articles in DOPE magazine and Sensi Magazine and he leads a monthly webinar on Cannabis Tech where he features guest speakers in the cannabis industry. Additionally, he has been a speaker and a panel expert at numerous industry events. To date Mr. Smith, along with American Cannabis Company, Inc. has designed and built over one million square feet of cultivation space, with another 250,000 square feet under construction. Mr. Smith’s career path has positioned him to play an integral role in helping both individual companies to succeed as well as aiding the emerging cannabis industry to prosper as a whole.

  American Cannabis Company

  CEO & Founder

  Ellis Smith

  CEO & Founder

  American Cannabis Company

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  Timeka Drew

  Timeka Drew is an operating social equity license holder and seasoned cannabis industry executive. She is a part of the top 200 Phase 3, Round 1 social equity retail storefront applicants in LA and looks forward to opening her store in her community plan area of Southeast Los Angeles soon. Timeka is the founder and CEO of Biko, a California cannabis brand focused on producing luxurious, effective products produced at her social equity manufacturing facility in DTLA. She sits on the Board of the Cannabis Equity Retailers Association (CERA) and Social Equity LA. She is a member of the Equity Trade Certification (ETC) Leadership Coalition, the ETC Policy Committee, and the Social Equity Owners and Workers Association (SEOWA). She entered the cannabis industry in the early 2000’s as a medical patient and advocate. She currently serves as the Chief Growth Officer of award-winning, vertically integrated retailer NUG.

  Biko

  Founder & CEO

  Timeka Drew

  Founder & CEO

  Biko

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  Alexa Wilson

  Alexa Wilson has over 20 years of experience working in a variety of industries with a focus on design and build, project management and supply chain management. Alexa heads up the Design+Build practice for Omega Equipment & Supply, a cannabis industry-based subsidiary of The Wasserstrom Company, one of the country’s leading supply chain providers for the restaurant and hospitality industries. Alexa holds dual majors in Spanish and Communications from University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and graduated at the top of her class. Outside of work she is very involved in community activism and has served on the Board of Directors for Lost Boys of Sudan Center where she was chairperson for the PF Chang’s Rock n Roll Marathon. She currently lives in Phoenix, AZ with her husband and 2 children and two amazing tuxedo cats. For more information, please visitwww.OmegaStore.com

  Omega Equipment & Supply

  Director, Design and Build Division

  Alexa Wilson

  Director, Design and Build Division

  Omega Equipment & Supply

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  Brian Carter

  Brian Carter is an architect and Associate Principal with Studio KDA, a 25-person architecture and interior design firm located in the San Francisco Bay Area. He leads complex projects in the Life Sciences, Housing and Arts & Hospitality sectors. Brian recently completed work on a 15,000 SF cannabis seed-to-sale facility in Oakland, California where he designed one of the first ground-up cannabis buildings in the Bay Area. The facility implements cutting edge operational efficiency, exceptional building performance, and state-of-the-art systems including reverse osmosis water filtration, condensate reclamation, integrated HVAC and CO2 injection, among others. Before joining Studio KDA, Brian worked in architectural forensics and litigation support. This training provided him with uncommon insight into the best practices of building science. With a deep commitment to his clients’ success, he combines his architectural experience with his knowledge of cannabis facility programming and systems to help develop innovative and successful projects. In addition to his work with Studio KDA, Brian is Vice-Chair of the Design Review Board for the City of Richmond. He holds a BSAS and a BFA from the University of Milwaukee, and a Master of Architecture from the University of Oregon.

  Studio KDA

  Architect

  Brian Carter

  Architect

  Studio KDA

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  Michelle Mabugat

  Michelle Mabugat is a corporate and transactional attorney representing entrepreneurs, start-ups and middle- market companies. She advises companies and their principals across a broad range of business sectors, but she has deep industry expertise in branded consumer products, manufacturing & distribution, commercial cannabis and industrial hemp. Frequently acting as general counsel for her clients, Michelle’s practice is broad in scope and she has extensive experience in handling significant transactions whether it’s a merger or acquisition, capital raise, joint venture or licensing deal. Her early experience in litigation paired with her bold approach to business strategy allows her to creatively get deals done. Michelle is also consistently recognized as one of the most prominent attorneys in the emerging cannabis space. With over a decade of experience handling cannabis and hemp-related matters, nothing gives her more satisfaction than helping cutting-edge companies thrive in highly-regulated industries. Due to her significant industry and regulatory experience, she has become the go-to lawyer for handling high-stakes cannabis matters. Seasoned in crisis management, she regularly appears before state and local regulatory agencies to defend clients in enforcement actions and administrative hearings. In addition to her corporate work, Michelle is equally dedicated to the advancement of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in the business and legal communities. As a member of the inaugural DE&I Committee for the Association for Corporate Growth - Los Angeles Chapter (ACG-LA), she will work to help reflect and enhance the diversity of the Los Angeles middle market. As a member of the Legislative Advocacy Committee for the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, she helps identify bills and public policy issues that will impact the LGBT business community. In her roles with the Cannabis Equity Retailers Association, the Cannabis Pro Bono Panel for the Los Angeles County Bar Association, and the Minority Cannabis Business Association, she provides pro bono counsel for restorative justice initiatives. She has also provided pro bono counsel to low-income applicants who qualify for the Los Angeles Cannabis Social Equity Program.

  Greenberg Glusker

  Counsel

  Moderator

  Michelle Mabugat

  Counsel

  Greenberg Glusker

Investing in Cannabis

Owning, Financing & Restructuring

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  Richard Acosta

  Richard serves as Chief Executive Officer of Subversive Real Estate Acquisition REIT LP (NEO: SVX) and Inception REIT Inc., both cannabis focused real estate investment vehicles. Previously, Richard served as the Chief Financial Officer of SBE (SLS Hotels), a global hospitality company where he, among other responsibilities, focused on corporate and asset level transactions. Prior to joining SBE in 2014, Richard was a Director at Colony Capital, a global real estate private equity firm, where he focused on executing and managing over $9 billion of private equity investments primarily in the gaming, hospitality, and media industries. Prior to Colony, Richard worked in Wells Fargo’s Real Estate Merchant Banking division. Richard holds a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Southern California.

  Inception REIT

  CEO

  Richard Acosta

  CEO

  Inception REIT

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  Erik Murray

  Erik Murray is the Chairman and Managing Partner of Lafayette, CA based Oak Funds and Oak Impact Group, among California’s leading cannabis real estate developers, owners, and managers. With a keen understanding of social equity and a focus on operating at the intersection of prime commercial real estate and positive social impact, since 2016, Murray and his team at Oak have successfully acquired and developed over a dozen cannabis properties valued at nearly $200M. Every project in Oak’s portfolio has a social equity ownership and/or incubation component, and Murray is proud to be at the forefront of impact investing in cannabis by proving that outsized returns for investors and positive impacts to communities harmed by the war on drugs are not mutually exclusive. The first exits from the portfolio already delivered a 2.5x multiple and a 140% IRR to investors, and Oak is excited to continue expanding the platform in 2022. Murray volunteers on the Boards of the Last Prisoner Project and Union Square Alliance, and is a member of the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR), a Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM), a Senior Alpine Instructor in the National Ski Patrol, and resides in the San Francisco Bay Area.

  Eastside Innovation

  Founder & CEO

  Erik Murray

  Founder & CEO

  Eastside Innovation

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  Peter Steigleder

  President

  Fidelity Mortgage Lenders, Inc.

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  Irán Hopkins

  Irán Hopkins is a Partner in Akerman LLP’s Real Estate Department, where she advises clients across a range of industries in all aspects of real estate and business transactions and day-to-day operations, including structuring ownership and joint ventures, equity investments, capital structure, and debt financing; M& A transactions, commercial contracts, service and use agreements, purchase and sale of real estate, commercial and residential leasing, construction and development, property management, insurance planning and risk management, business succession planning, disputes, branding, licensing, and intellectual property rights. Ms. Hopkins is also an expert in California cannabis regulatory compliance and serves on Akerman’s national cannabis team, working with landlords, tenants, lenders, legacy operators, new operators, investors, and other stakeholders in the cannabis industry in all aspects of licensing, real estate transactions, business operations, getting products to market, and regulatory compliance with California law on a local, county and state level.

  Akerman LLP

  Partner

  Irán Hopkins

  Partner

  Akerman LLP

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  Noah Streit

  Noah Streit is President of Streit Lending, the private mortgage lending business affiliated with the Streit Family. Noah oversees the sourcing, structuring, underwriting, executing and servicing of all bridge loans for the Streit Family and is a member of the Streit Family’s Loan Committee. Mr. Streit is also the President of Streit Real Estate, a real estate investment and management company that oversees the operations of the Streit Family’s portfolio of multifamily housing in Southern California and Colorado. Streit Real Estate focuses on the acquisition, rehabilitation and management of value-add and distressed multi-family opportunities.

  Streit Lending

  President

  Noah Streit

  President

  Streit Lending

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  Stanley Jutkowitz

  Stanley S. Jutkowitz, senior counsel in Seyfarth Shaw LLP’s Washington, D.C. office, concentrates his practice on domestic and international business transactions and tax planning, counseling on corporate and business matters, and real estate transactions. He is also the founding editor of the firm’s marijuana law blog, The Blunt Truth (blunttruthlaw.com) and heads the firm’s cannabis practice. Mr. Jutkowitz has taught a number of continuing legal education courses on various aspects of cannabis law. His cannabis law experience includes counseling businesses on the legal risks of selling into the cannabis industry both in the US and internationally, representing lenders and property owners in real estate transactions, mergers and acquisitions, counseling investors on cannabis investments, tax planning and banking. His real estate experience includes the acquisition, development, sale and leasing of commercial, retail and residential property on behalf of domestic and foreign investors, and the representation of specialty users of real estate, such as companies with security clearance, technology companies and biotech companies. His transactional experience includes representation of emerging and other privately and publicly held companies in connection with mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity financing, venture capital transactions and public offerings of stock and tax planning and structuring entities for both inbound and outbound cross border mergers and acquisitions.

  Seyfarth Shaw

  Senior Counsel

  Moderator

  Stanley Jutkowitz

  Senior Counsel

  Seyfarth Shaw

Creating a Cannabis Centered Community

Curating a Retail Experience & Focusing on Out-of-home Entertainment

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  Chris Beals

  Chris Beals is the CEO of Weedmaps, the leading technology company focused on the cannabis sector. He is also a member of the company’s board of directors. As CEO, Chris oversees all aspects of Weedmaps’ business, guiding the company’s growth and product direction to provide interconnected solutions for the entire cannabis business and consumer spectrum. Prior to being appointed CEO in March 2019, Chris served as Weedmaps’ president and general counsel, spending significant time advising state and local governments, as well as business operators, on issues ranging from compliance to technology. Additionally, as head of the company’s policy division, Chris helped shape legislation to encourage efficient and safe legal cannabis marketplaces around the country as well as expand to pace of cannabis legalization. Prior to Weedmaps, Chris specialized in technology and healthcare work with a private equity fund and prior to that as a transactional attorney with the law firms of Covington & Burling and Davis Polk. He earned his J.D., BA in Economics and BSE in Systems Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.

  Weedmaps

  CEO

  Chris Beals

  CEO

  Weedmaps

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  Daniel Firtel

  A global leader in the industry, TRP scales the most iconic brands in cannabis. Combining decades of investment and real estate experience with the talent and know-how earned during cannabis prohibition, TRP is purpose-built to solve the challenges of modern cannabis. With operations in 14 states and 2 countries, TRP's platform and expertise empower its exclusive brand partners including Cookies, Dr. Greenthumb’s, and Insane to become and remain household names in a highly regulated and segmented marketplace.

  TRP

  President/Co-Founder

  Daniel Firtel

  President/Co-Founder

  TRP

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  Lauren Fontein

  Lauren Fontein, Co-Founder of The Artist Tree, began her professional career as a corporate lawyer in Los Angeles. She transitioned to the cannabis industry in 2009 when she founded a cannabis edible manufacturing company. From 2009 to 2017, she headed operations and supplied edibles to over 100 medical dispensaries in the Los Angeles area. Lauren concurrently worked as legal counsel for medical dispensaries owned by brothers Avi Kahan and Mitchell Kahan. In 2018, Lauren partnered with Avi, Mitch, and Aviv Halimi to create The Artist Tree brand for the purpose of obtaining a consumption lounge and retail licenses in the city of West Hollywood. She is intricately involved in the day-to-day operations of all Artist Tree locations. She serves as the company’s Chief Compliance Officer, handles community outreach, and works on marketing campaigns. She also oversees The Artist Tree’s art program, using art as a voice for positive change and as a way to bring people together. In addition, she works on The Artist Tree’s expansion team, preparing license applications and working with local cities and counties to successfully obtain cannabis retail licenses in new jurisdictions. Lauren graduated with a B.A. in Psychology from Dartmouth College (2002) and a J.D. from UCLA School of Law (2007).

  The Artist Tree

  Founder

  Lauren Fontein

  Founder

  The Artist Tree

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  Bryan Bergman

  Partner

  Nolan Heimann

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  Virginia Maggiore

  As Principal of RDC, Maggiore has built the firm’s Retail Store Rollout and Planning practice, adding notable retail and cannabis industry clients to the firm’s roster and garnering accolades for her work. Maggiore is a licensed architect, responsible for developing the in-store experience and customer journey, creative strategy, visual communication, and marketing integration for retail clients. She offers clients 20 years of experience in the retail, wholesale, and international markets where she has successfully developed and implemented retail strategies for global brands. She works in close collaboration across the RDC architecture, interiors, and procurement teams to provide our clients with a detailed brand experience uniquely designed to fit their needs. Her deep retail design roots also inform her experience in cannabis dispensary design and rollout. Recent representative projects under Maggiore’s direction include multiple locations for retail and cannabis, such as: Traditional DTLA, Jenni Kayne Home Store, and Rhone. Founded in 1979, RDC is a full-service, award-winning architecture firm dedicated to making everyday places extraordinary. Practice areas include interior design, branding, hospitality, retail, entertainment, workplace, residential, and procurement. Headquartered in Long Beach, CA, the firm has 175 staff members and offices located in Washington DC, Northwest Arkansas, and San Diego CA. For more information, visit: www.rdcollaborative.com.

  RDC

  Principal

  Virginia Maggiore

  Principal

  RDC

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  Sahar Ayinehsazian

  Sahar Ayinehsazian is a partner in Vicente Sederberg's Los Angeles office. As a leading member of the firm's Corporate Department, she guides multi-state operators in the cannabis industry in their expansion into new markets across the U.S. and advises businesses, investors, and other law firms on the nuances of executing corporate transactions involving licensed and ancillary cannabis companies. In 2023, Sahar was recognized by her peers in the "Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch" list for her work in corporate law. Prior to joining VS, Sahar served as the director of regulatory and governmental affairs at a multi-state money transmitter servicing the cannabis industry, where she developed a comprehensive understanding of credit card flow, banking and cannabis compliance. Using her specialized knowledge, Sahar helped establish and currently co-leads VS's Banking and Financial Services Access practice. In addition to helping cannabis and cannabis-related businesses establish traditional banking relationships, she assists third-party payment providers with compliance related to state and federal cannabis banking guidelines. As a member of the National Cannabis Industry Association’s Banking & Financial Services Committee, Sahar works on strategy and educational advocacy to enable state-licensed businesses to obtain accounts at depository institutions. She is a go-to source for businesses, industry groups, and reporters seeking opinions, analysis, and guidance on cannabis and hemp corporate, banking and financial services matters. Sahar holds a Bachelor of Arts, with honors, from the University of California, San Diego, and a law degree from Loyola Law School, where she was a Loyola Scholar.

  Vicente Sederberg LLP

  Partner

  Moderator

  Sahar Ayinehsazian

  Partner

  Vicente Sederberg LLP