NY Cannabis Insider Live! presented by Foley Hoag is Friday, May 20, from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. The full-day, in-person conference will be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Albany. Purchase tickets here.
NY Cannabis Insider business-to-business conferences feature the best and brightest industry thought leaders, sharing their knowledge and expertise on topics critical for those looking to start their cannabis ventures. NY Cannabis Insider helps attendees seize this unprecedented opportunity with the same high-quality cannabis industry conversation as previous virtual conferences.
NY Cannabis Insider has curated top cannabis experts to speak on these topics, providing attendees with the insider information that only NY Cannabis Insider can deliver. Our roster of panelists includes:
Charles Johnson Co-Founder and CEO, Leafspotz Inc. Panel: A Deep Dive Into the Regulations for Conditional Adult Use Cannabis Licenses
Charles Johnson Esq, is the co-founder and CEO of Leafspotz Inc., the first African American B2B cannabis transportation and logistics software company in New York. Leafspotz’s transportation software platform will help simplify the distribution needs between New York cannabis businesses with an end-to-end supply chain solution for transporting their cannabis products within the state. Charles believes that addressing the supply chain aspect in New York is not only a fundamental part of the adult-use market, but is also the building blocks of ensuring our emerging market thrives for years to come.
Charles is a licensed attorney for almost 10 years with an employment law and statutory background, mainly involving collective bargaining negotiations, administrative trials, arbitrations, and labor relations. Charles served as special counsel for BrownGreer PLC while working on the $20 billion settlement fund for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster. Prior to passing the bar, Charles was a former law clerk for Equal Employment Opportunity Commission headquarters in DC under the Obama administration.
Geoffrey Brown
Medical Marijuana Pharmacist at MedMen and Publisher of CannaBuff
Panel: Impact of Recreational Adult-Use Legislation on Medical Marijuana Providers
Dr. Geoffrey Brown is a licensed pharmacist in New York State and is the editor-in-chief of CannaBuff magazine and CannabisQuestions.Health. During pharmacy school, Geoff completed training at the Mayo Clinic where he developed an early interest in how pharmacists can help patients improve their utilization of natural medicines. In his initial work at UB, he conducted new research evaluating patient-reported pain and quality of life outcomes associated with the use of medical cannabis products available through NY’s Medical Program. This work was featured by NORML and has been widely cited as one of the first clinical studies in the U.S. suggesting medical cannabis may reduce opioid dose requirements. This eventually led Geoff to his current practice at a dispensary in Buffalo where he sees patients with a range of conditions from Multiple Sclerosis and epilepsy to chronic pain and PTSD.
CannaBuff magazine is a quarterly print publication that promotes new cannabis and adjacent businesses in Western New York. Educational and professional in its scope, CannaBuff magazine discusses a broad range of legal, medical, and business issues facing New Yorkers and is available for free at over 300 locations, or by mail or e-mail.
Geoff is also the founder of CannabisQuestions.Health, a cannabis question and answer website, that gives users a pharmacist who will personally answer all their questions about cannabis in detail, complete with references.
Lee Buttolph COO/CFO, Tap Root Fields Lee started his career in the telecommunications industry working for Sprint and start-up Rhythms NetConnections. After the dot-com meltdown in the summer of 2001 and subsequent terrorist attack of September 11th, Lee left the corporate world and joined the Marine Corps as a Communications Officer. He deployed to Iraq twice and served in the roles of Platoon Commander and Operations Officer. After growing a family business, earning a master’s degree in entrepreneurship and new media management at Syracuse University, and working with Central New York tech startups, Lee co-founded Tap Root Fields.
Tap Root Fields started as a bare patch of land in Skaneateles, NY but has since been transformed into an operation that is ready to take on a cannabis cultivation license using a combination of outdoor and greenhouse growing. The farm is currently organic certified, but the team has loftier ambitions to build in regenerative agriculture practices. In addition to his farm duties, Lee travels the world for the Boots 2 Business program. This program, run by the Small Business Administration and Syracuse University, teaches US military personnel how to start a business as they exit the military.
Paula Collins
Founder and Attorney at Law Office of Paula Collins, LLC
Panel: Get Started Now: Crafting a Successful Cannabis Business Plan
Paula Collins is an enrolled agent and an attorney, dedicated to representing cannabis entrepreneurs and investors through all phases of the business life cycle. A cannabis professional since 2015, Collins specializes in finding solutions for social equity license holders, fundraising, and taxation in the cannabis space. She specializes in helping start-up and legacy operators transition into legal cannabis businesses by first examining their personal journeys, family history, and financial snapshot. Collins is licensed as an attorney in several states and is qualified to practice in the US Tax Court.
As a tax professional with the highest credentials offered by the IRS, she has clients in almost every state in the US. Collins is a founding member of the New York Consortium of Cannabis Accountants (NYCCA), a VIP Member of DopeCFO, on the board with the Boston-based advocacy and education organization known as Elevate Northeast, and serves on the Social Equity and Diversity Committee of the International Cannabis Bar Association. Collins is a classical pianist and is Chair of the Chamber Music Committee of the New York City Bar Association.
Click here for more details and to purchase tickets.
NY Cannabis Insider Event Sponsors
Sponsors and partners for NY Cannabis Insider events are the businesses shaping the industry locally and regionally. Look for them on the conference floor and during networking times throughout the day.
- Foley Hoag, the conference’s presenting sponsor, provides legal services to cannabis and cannabis-related operators and investors. With national experience in the medical and adult-use cannabis industry, Foley Hoag attorneys can assist with securing licensing, corporation formation, regulation compliance and more.
- Harris Beach, the conference’s supporting sponsor, provides legal support, advice and expertise for the cannabis industry powered by regional knowledge, statewide coverage, local connections, and fluency in regulatory compliance.
- Cannabis360, the conference’s supporting sponsor, is a full-service cannabis marketing agency. Cannabis360 specializes in understanding the marketing landscape from the cannabis perspective, placing media on cannabis-friendly platforms, developing compelling, creative and informative marketing plans with proprietary data insights.
- Cannaspire, a vendor fair participant, providing a variety of cannabis consulting services from phone consultations, business plans, security plans, building a team, and more
- Cova Software, a vendor fair participant, provides easy-to-use, compliant cannabis software that streamlines dispensary management.