Alberto Cresto
Alberto is a Principal with Lunar Ventures, a European deep-tech early stage VC investing in PET. In 2021 Alberto published "The privacy infrastructure of tomorrow is being built today" one of the first white papers on the PET space, featuring a detailed market landscape and guidelines for investors approaching this space. Before joining Lunar Alberto was an Associate Partner with Momenta Partners, an Advisory firm specialized in industrial technologies. Alberto advised startups and public companies on deep-tech M&A initiatives and was instrumental in setting up Momenta Ventures, where he executed 15 investments in European and North-American early stage startups.
Dr. Yavuz Emre Yagci
Nick French
Nick French is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who, after working in the finance and real estate industries for 20 years, desired to make more of a difference in the world. In 2008, he started Frangiosa Farms. He began beekeeping and set out with the mission to save the bees and provide honey as a pure and natural product for consumers. While working on the farm, Nick began to learn about the benefits of hemp and its use as a natural alternative. During those years, society was not as accepting of hemp and cannabis as it is today but despite that, he pressed on to learn about the natural benefits that the plant provided.
Nick’s desire to identify and combine natural products that add value to the lives of people and pets came to a career changing moment in 2015. He combined his beehives’ pure and raw honey with Colorado local full spectrum hemp extract. He also worked with his wife Ali, a certified aromatherapist, to add organic essential oils for additional health benefits and flavor. In that year, Colorado Hemp Honey was born.
Nick continued to work closely with hemp extractors in Colorado for the hemp that was infused into Colorado Hemp Honey. Having studied biology and botany himself, he worked with some of the best Colorado hemp extractors in the industry. With this knowledge, Nick and his team started growing hemp at Frangiosa Farms and harvested and extracted it for Colorado Hemp Honey in 2018.
This was a big step in the direction of societal change. As an advocate for legalization and education in the cannabis industry, Nick sees Colorado Hemp Honey as not only a way to help people and pets with life changing products, but to educate everyone on the value and benefits of hemp and cannabis.
With his team, Nick has developed and maintained successful relationships with distributors, hired account managers to get product onto shelves in retail locations across the globe, created new products, and marketed and advertised products at a national and international level. His business experience with managing, analyzing, and reporting on corporate financials has been critical to the company’s success. It has also given him great insight into how to run a successful business and build a team that has led to the company’s overall growth.
Please visit our website at www.coloradohemphoney.com for more information.
Billy Peuplie
Chris Olson
Chris Olson helps trade associations, media companies, and institutes of higher education to develop educational content related to the cannabis industry. Chris recently worked with the National Cannabis Industry Association to develop educational content for conferences and webinars. He’s currently a writer for MJ Brand Insights, an online publication focused on developing content for cannabis brands and retailers.
Jerod Martin
Jerod Martin (Chief R&D Officer of CannGoods) has formulated and developed products that have been distributed 300 plus retail locations, 1000 plus physician offices, and more than 100,000 units delivered to the EU and UK which were manufactured in the US. He also established a research partnership between CannGoods and Central State University (1890 Land Grand Institution) for the purpose of furthering research in the Cannabis industry.
Connor Skelly
Jennifer Knaack
Dr. Jen Knaack is the Senior Director of Compliance and Science at Koi CBD, a leader in CBD topical and ingestible products. She obtained her Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Southern California and is a certified Toxicological Chemist. After serving as a Senior Service Fellow at the CDC and a university professor, Dr. Jen entered the cannabis industry as a cannabis testing laboratory director prior to joining Koi CBD. Her unique expertise in science and government regulations has made her invaluable in lobbying efforts to support cannabis and hemp from a scientific perspective. In addition to developing top-selling products for Koi CBD and keeping educated on current state and federal legislation, Dr. Jen also represents Koi CBD as an advocate for hemp and cannabinoids through the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, the California Hemp Council, the Hemp Industries Association and the Global Retailer and Manufacturer Alliance. Dr. Jen also serves as an expert in human rights violations related to chemical terrorism and chemical exposures.
Ian McCulloch
After spending 30 years as Commercial Director of ITV, Ian decided to take his vast knowledge of branding and utilise it in his next calling in life: gin. Ian co-founded Silent Pool Distillers in 2014 with a vision of creating a truly sustainable distillery next to a fresh water source, producing handcrafted artisan spirits of uncompromising quality.
Lily Temperton
Lily is a Consultant at Hanway Associates and has worked across a multitude of cannabis consultancy projects since 2018, providing strategic support, regulatory guidance and market analysis to medical, CBD, industrial hemp and recreational clients. She has also written industry reports including the European Medical Cannabis Ecosystem (EMCE, 2020), produced in partnership with the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the European Cannabis Investment Landscape (ECIL, 2021) in partnership with Crunchbase.
Hanway Associates is the leading European cannabis sector advisory firm, providing market research, new market entry support, and M&A strategy to help clients open and enter markets, build brands and grow their network. Clients include producers of cannabis medicines, pharmaceutical and FMCG companies, investment funds and innovative startups.