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6 Tips To Improve Plant Nutrition and Quality

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With the introduction of nutrient supplements, one common misconception Ian Bateman, who works in professional technical services at Hawthorne Gardening Company’s Horticulture Division, sees at cultivation operations is growers focusing their attention onsupplements at the expense of base nutrients, or the primary fertilizers that contain essential macronutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK). As a result, plants don’t get the nutrition they need from their food, and because supplements aren’t meant to be holistic, deficiencies can manifest.

“[Base nutrients contain] the bulk of the plant essential nutrients,” Bateman says. “What the supplements should be doing is enhancing or supporting the base nutrients, but because of marketing, because of how these products are positioned, growers think that they’re going to get all the yield and the performance out of the supplements and the base nutrients become kind of an afterthought.”

Just like for humans, vitamins are a great way to supplement nutrients people may not get enough of in their regular diets, but they can’t completely negate unhealthy eating.

“You can take all the fish oil and all the B vitamins and all the stuff you want, but if you eat like crap, you’re going to look like crap and you’re going to feel like crap,” says Ian Bateman. “The same is true for plants.”

When plants don’t get what they need, nutrient deficiency symptoms vary, but common problems include interveinal chlorosis (yellowing leaf margins,) or chlorosis (leaves appear pale, lime green or even yellow), Bateman says. However, it’s often difficult to diagnose the specific nutrient disorder without lab testing, and even then, it’s generally not just one nutrient that is lacking.

“In the real world, most of the time, when plants are deficient, they will have multiple things wrong with them,” he says. “It’s rarelyjust one nutrient. It can happen, but often times it’s linked because nutrients are linked.”

Without proper nutrient balance, toxicity also can occur, and symptoms include burning or singeingfoliage, Bateman says.

In order to avoid an imbalance, Bateman recommends dialing in thebase nutrientsbased on crop demand and life stage, thenleveragingkey supplements. He shared the following tips:

1. A combination of base fertilizers and supplements is key to producing high quality plants.

Two decades ago, nutrient programs were more complicated, Bateman says, and often involved 10+fertilizer parts.

“Now we’ve gone in the other direction where growers want to simplify,” Bateman says. “The pendulum swings one way, and now it’s definitely swung the other way, where I feel like a lot of growers are being a little too reductionist. They may say, ‘All I need is mineral salts, just give me a simple base nutrient recipe, and we’re done.’ And that does work, there’s no doubt about it. But what is being left on the table?”

Plants need different proportions of different nutrients as they grow and mature and during key lifecycle stages for growers to get the results they want, including stronger plants, higher yields and improved fruit and flower quality, Bateman says.

“For example, a young seedling is going to want high phosphorus to set roots. A young fast growing vegetative plant is going to want lots of nitrogen and iron to grow lots of leaves,” he says. “And then when it starts to fruit and flower, it’s going to want less nitrogen and is going to want higher levels of potassium, calcium and sulfur to improve the quality and abundance of the fruit set.”

A base fertilizer program tailored for plants at different growth stages is a good start, Bateman says, but supplements are often highly beneficial to produce the highest quality plants and can solve a lot of common problems, as described in additional tips below.

2. Solve nutrient deficiencies with supplements, not base fertilizers.

Base fertilizers contain not only key macronutrients for plant development, but also an array of micronutrients that plants need very small amounts of but are still crucial, Bateman says. Because base fertilizers are wholistic feeding programs, it’s difficult to use them to increase a single nutrient without overapplying another key nutrient, Bateman says.

“It’s usually easier to address a class of deficiencies with supplements then it is to raise the base level of nutrients,” he says. “For example, calcium deficiencies tend to flare up pretty often. If you raise base nutrients to raise calcium levels, you’re going to be bringing in other nutrients, usually nitrogen and lots of micronutrients. You might get a situation where you correct the calcium deficiency but now you have toxicity in some other nutrients. So bringing in a calcium/magnesium supplement makes a lot more sense to me.”

3. Calcium deficiencies are common. Make sure plants get enough.

Calcium deficiencies in plants tend to be more common than others for many reasons, Bateman says. Plants need calcium in high amounts, and if they don’t have enough, they aren’t able to produce high quality fruits and flowers, he says.

“Plants have a harder time picking up calcium from the roots and moving them into their      tissuesthan other nutrients,” Bateman says. “And this is because unlike a lot of nutrients, which can move cell to cell, and the plant has ways of getting what it needs, calcium doesn’t. Once calcium is deposited into the plant tissue, it’s like the mortar to the brick, it’s not going anywhere, so plants need a consistent supply of calcium. Calcium becomes deficient in the new tissuefirst, which needs it the most.”

Although calcium is critical in all stages of growth, the plant needs it the most in early flowering, Bateman says, as it’s a key element in producing strong, healthy fruits and flowers.

“The plant is growing very quickly and at that point setting its inflorescence structure,” he says.

When correcting for calcium deficiencies, it’s important to also supplement with magnesium, which is why Hawthorne Gardening Company offers a Botanicare Cal-Mag Plus formula to address this widespread deficiency.

“Nutrients can be antagonistic to each other. Calcium and magnesium are a perfect example of that. If you raise one, you have to raise the other to keep them in balance,” Bateman says. “Otherwise, you fix the calcium deficiency and now you could run a magnesium deficiency.”

4. Check your water supply before using a calcium/magnesium supplement.

If growers are working with a base nutrient with ample calcium and magnesium, they may not need to supplement them, Bateman says. However, most do not contain enough. And, if growers irrigate with soft water or use reverse-osmosis systems, a calcium magnesium supplement is highly recommended, he says.

“For growers who are using hard water that has tons of calcium and magnesium in it, I actually don’t recommend using [Cal-Mag Plus] because in that case, you’re overloading the plant with it,” Bateman says. “There’s so much in the water already. It’s not a one-size-fits-all [solution], but for the majority of growers, it’s a good thing to use or at least have [Cal-Mag] in your arsenal so if something does come up, you’re ready.”

5. Consider sulfur to improve aroma and value.

Sulfur is one of the elements thought to contribute to plants’ “funky, gassy” aroma, Bateman says. In addition to boosting fragrant properties, sulfur may help improve fruit quality and fruit set.

“It’s one of those nutrients that people don’t talk about a lot. They like to focus on the potassium and the phosphorus, but sulfur is one of those underrated ones,” he says. “Plants are also very tolerant to high sulfur levels, and I think this makes evolutionary sense because a lot of water supplies are full of sulfur.”

6. Silicon can be used as an “insurance policy” for plants.

Silicon is considered a beneficial nutrient, not essential, as plants can grow without it. But Bateman says growers should consider supplementing their crops with silicon throughout the plant’s entire lifecycle starting in the vegetative stage after each irrigation. Botanicare offers Silica Blast, which can help improve vigor and protect plants from environmental stressors. Like calcium, silicon is not translocated within the plant, so new tissues won’t get the benefit of silicon if it is only applied once in a while

“Silicon is deposited in the skin or epidermis of the plant, and it makes the plant stronger. And there’s a lot of benefits to having a stronger plant,” Bateman says. “One of the obvious ones is the branches won’t break as easily. It also helps the plant in extreme environments.”

For example, if an air conditioning unit goes down and the heat rises, forcing plants into a drought situation, silicon can help protect plants and provide much-needed buffer time until the problem is resolved.

“It’s almost an insurance policy that it offers you to give the plant a bit more time to react should something bad happen,” Bateman says.

 

Premier Cannabis Beverage Company Keef Brands Expands Eastward: Missouri, Ohio and Maine

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Multi-state, vertically integrated cannabis operator Parallel—run by the former CEO and namesake of the Wrigley Company William “Beau” Wrigley Jr.—made headlines earlier this year after announcing the company would combine with special purpose acquisition company Ceres Acquisition Corp. in a $1.9-billion deal expected to close this summer. The merger would allow Parallel’s team to make a public offering while continuing to grow the business through mergers and acquisitions.

Wrigley outlines the benefits of the deal, Parallel’s market expansion strategy, the company’s clinical research partnership with the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, as well as why he believes there’s still “a ways to go” before cannabis can become a true consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry.

Editor’s note: A condensed version of this article originally appeared in April 2021 issue of Cannabis Business Times. It has been updated to include details from the company’s Windy City Cannabis acquisition in Illinois, as well as the recent termination of Kim Napoli, Parallel’s former senior director of corporate social responsibility. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

 

Cassie Neiden Tomaselli: What enticed you to participate in this industry, and how do you see cannabis evolving as a consumer packaged good (CPG)?

Beau Wrigley: What got me into it was health and wellness. When I really started to understand cannabis—going back a couple years—I realized that it really has the potential to truly improve people’s quality of life. And obviously I’ve been successful and fortunate to run a couple different businesses. But when you can have a business that brings that to people, potentially all over the world, it’s a pretty high calling. And it’s pretty great to be involved with the foundational aspects of an industry that’s new.

On the CPG side, it’s interesting. Obviously, that’s my background; I spent many years in CPG. There are parallels, pun intended, to CPG with this, but I think it’s going to be a while before this really looks like a CPG business. You’ve got a highly regulated environment, and I think a lot of people get overly optimistic about legislative changes that are going to change things dramatically in the near future. I think it’s a little further out. Things like being able to sell outside of regulated stores is a big issue, and that doesn’t necessarily match up with your traditional CPG. A retail environment and what you do with a retail environment does match up with CPG, but you’ve got regulations on packaging and you can’t ship products across state borders. And then every state has a different regulatory environment, so you don’t have any consistency for mass marketing. So, there’s still a ways to go from a CPG standpoint.

 

CNT: While the industry is continuing to advance, what ways can Parallel enter the mainstream, drawing on the experience that you have with the legacy Wrigley brands?

BW: I think what we bring to the party is legitimacy because, frankly, my name and reputation for quality, consistency, efficacy, doing the right thing in terms of building companies, taking care of employees, developing great cultures. Our intent is to create a gold standard in this industry. We’re not necessarily trying to be the biggest, but our intent is trying to be best from a compliance standpoint. So I think we can set the table in that regard, and then that will give people more confidence in the industry as a whole. Then the way we approach it in our retail stores is very much one of education, and that’s just a matter of time—to educate people on these amazing benefits of cannabis.

 

CNT: Parallel’s expansion strategy seems to be that you go very deep into the states that you’re in (Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Texas), instead of rapidly moving into multiple states. How do you think your focus will help the Parallel company over the long term?

BW: I feel strongly about this: Businesses are more successful when they’re focused. Now, you need to be focusing on the right things, and that’s what sometimes trips other businesses up. And I love our footprint. We are in high population markets with a relatively limited number of licenses on a comparable basis. We’re always looking at different markets, and we have applications in for licenses in a couple different states. But to go out and really add to that footprint, [whereas] we could do so much with our existing footprint—it’s like, why would you open up another front? I think it will serve us in terms of the depth of our customer base and the ability to build a strong business and be more competitive longer-term.

 

CNT: Parallel recently acquired Windy City Cannabis, which will give the company a significant presence in Illinois’ medical and adult-use market. What made Windy City specifically most attractive to Parallel as a point of entry to the state?

BW: I would say several things. One, it has four stores up and running and a viable ongoing business, so it’s not starting from scratch. Two, they have two more stores, which will be opening shortly, so it will be a total of six against the cap in Illinois currently of 10. So it’s a significant store count for us with significant revenue that is anticipated to flow through those stores very quickly. Three, I like where the stores are because they’re dispersed throughout the state in places where, in many cases, there’s less competition. I think sometimes that’s overlooked. [Being] in the middle of the city can be good, and there can be volume and traffic there, but there also can be a lot of competition from that. It gives us a foothold continue to expand our business and expand our brand. [And] we were able to acquire this company, pending approval [from the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation], at the right price.

CNT: Could you share more details about the Ceres business combination announcement? How does this set you up for your upcoming public offering?

BW: We’re very pleased with the relationship with the Ceres folks. They’re knowledgeable about cannabis, which is really great. And they do bring a network and a certain expertise in media and entertainment, which is highly relevant, not from a licensing standpoint necessarily, but more from the challenge that I think every company, whether it’s CPG or otherwise, faces today which is: How do you reach your consumers? And in our case, we have multi-generational consumers who are 21 to 80 [years old], and it’s all about really unlocking the code to how do you do that.

And I think they can be very helpful for the company in that overall relationship. Obviously the transaction will put more cash in the piggy bank, so to speak, so it allows us to keep investing in a whole host of meaningful initiatives that we have as a company. And the timing is right now because people are beginning to take a harder look at the fundamentals on what makes a good company in this business. In the early days it was, “If it’s a weed stock, I want in. I want to say I own a piece of that.” But now people are starting to say, “OK, wait a minute, there are differences between these companies.” There’s differences in the boards of the companies, there’s differences in the footprint. Another difference for us, for example, is our intense focus on R&D and innovation, and we invest a lot in that. There are a lot of other companies that aren’t really doing that to the same degree.

 

CNT: The Boston Globe and MassLive reported that Senior Director of Corporate Social Responsibility Kim Napoli was recently terminated as a result of a breach in Parallel’s conflict-of-interest policy—because Napoli’s husband, Jonathan, had acquired a license to sell cannabis in the state of Massachusetts. Can you confirm these reports?

BW: Yes, this is 100% a significant conflict of interest. We have had a clear and strict policy, and that policy is that you cannot be employed by us and be in a competing business. It’s not about an individual, it’s not about social equity. If someone was working at your donut shop and opened a donut shop next door, or frankly, anywhere—and you had intellectual property, you had plans, products, would you want them in your donut shop when they’re going to be in competition with you? It’s a policy that protects the company and it also protects our associates.

I have great respect for Kim, she’s done a lot for the company. We promoted her within the organization when we purchased [New England Treatment Centers (NETA)].

Editor’s note: Cannabis Business Times/Cannabis Dispensary reached out to Kim Napoli regarding her termination from Parallel. Napoli declined to comment on the record.

 

CNT: There are reports of some fallout from the decision. How are you communicating this decision to your social equity partners as well as your employees and your other stakeholders?

BW: It’s a tricky one, it’s a fair [question]. I am not aware of significant fallout. I think that’s sensationalized media. We have had conversations with anyone who wants to raise it. We have had general communications within our organization and others. We also believe in, to the degree possible, respecting people’s privacy within the company, so we’ve tried to navigate that territory as carefully as possible.

 

CNT: Is there a plan now to fill the position of senior director of corporate responsibility?

BW: Absolutely, there’s a plan to backfill to continue to add to all of our efforts across the entire company in every market we function in. I am a huge, huge supporter [of corporate social responsibility]. That’s why we have all the policies in place that we do, and all the benefit programs. And we’re taking action. It’s not about writing a check. It’s not about saying things. It’s about doing things.

 

CNT: What are some of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives that the company is taking?

BW: We kind of have a three-pronged approach. We have an external approach to it with our partners out there, and that can be Cannaclusive, or CultivatED, or Minority Cannabis Business [Association]. We have an internal aspect, where we have Employee Resource Groups: we have Black Empowerment Network; we have a Pride group [Pride at Parallel]; we’re launching shortly a women’s initiative throughout the company [Women Impact Network]; we have Parallel Cares, where we match donations that people want to direct in certain ways. And we have an employee relief fund, so if someone needs help at a critical time, we’re there as a company to stand by. So we have a lot going on, and it’s very deep and thorough. I think people are going to start looking into companies like ours and saying, “Wow, OK, they really get it and they’re really doing the right thing in spades.” That’s what differentiates us as a company.

 

CNT: Why do you believe it’s so important for the cannabis industry in particular to take on these initiatives like you’ve just outlined?

BW: It’s important for two reasons. One: it’s a young, newly developing industry; it’s always good to start with the right kind of foundation—and not do something and try to convert later. And I think it’s important again to set the example because there are a lot of people who haven’t run companies who are in the cannabis business, so I think it’s important for them to start thinking about these things. And then there’s social history with regards to cannabis, [such as] incarceration of people for past offenses during different times. All of this is not saying we can go back and change history; we can’t, but we can do things right going forward. But doing things right going forward is in a holistic approach, not just trying to solve for one thing, [for example,] expungement. Great idea, but let’s be holistic and make sure we develop a workforce that’s inclusive. 

 

CNT: Can you talk a little about the partnership with the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine for clinical studies on sickle cell disease, and why you’re focusing there?

BW: We’re excited about our relationship there because something the industry has lacked for many, many years is legitimate research to prove out many of the things that people already know and feel. Even though it’s anecdotal, it’s improving their quality of life, so it will be nice to substantiate some of that over time. Sickle cell is the tip of the iceberg, we’ve got lots of things we want to do with [the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine] over time. It’s a good place to start, primarily because [sickle cell disease is] something that afflicts a disproportionately high number of African Americans. And African Americans have been disadvantaged by the whole cannabis industry, and that’s something that has to be acknowledged. Maybe we can come back and really help that particular population with one of the first initiatives. But there will be other studies addressing different [ailments] as well. 

 

CNT: What about your in-house R&D? Are there any other products or delivery methods that you’re particularly excited about?

BW: I would say beverage is very exciting. And we have in-house technology on beverage, which I think is very good, [that] allows us to basically emulsify cannabinoids in liquids—some with mild taste effects and others that are actually tasteless. So we feel that in the coming months here we’ll be able to launch some products and differentiative in a very good way in that category.

 

CNT: What about running a vertically integrated cannabis company keeps you up at a night?

BW: What keeps me up at night I would say is regulatory uncertainty. The number of regulatory bodies, and in some cases, their propensity to change the rules. It’s very difficult to run any business when the rules are changing all the time and when you’re really highly restricted. It’s an education process, but unfortunately in many cases, it takes quite a while to educate regulators on benefits of doing things certain ways. It’s not the industry trying to take advantage, it’s just, [they’ve] got to understand: the beliefs of the 1960s don’t hold muster anymore, and we must move into the next century here. And as such, we need to think about the economic benefits and the employment benefits, and work more hand-in-hand with the industry. I would say the other thing that keeps me up at night is the possibility that maybe a less sophisticated operator will cut corners and do something that could be detrimental to the industry that we’re trying to create the gold standard for in terms of compliance, relationships and the like.

 

CNT: What helps you sleep at night then?

BW: I have a very supportive family, which is No. 1, and that’s pretty awesome. And it’s just experience dealing with these sort of things. I’ve seen a lot in my years and career and so don’t tend to get too flustered by things, and [I] know what we can’t control and how we are going to find our way through it. Every day in this business you wake up and the landscape has changed to a certain degree, so you just have to look at it and say, “OK gosh, I thought we were going to go here, but we’re going to have to maneuver a little because now there’s a mountain in the way.” It really comes down to your attitude and approach and your experience I think, so I sleep pretty well.

 

CNT: Where do you see Parallel in the next five years?

BW: Lots of growth. We’re going to continue to innovate, diversify our portfolio. Beverage is part of that. Rare cannabinoids is part of that, and that’s the individualized cannabinoids a lot of people don’t really know much about—things to address sleep, to disrupt healthcare—three to five years for sure we’re going to see things like that in the marketplace, and I think we will see continued behavioral change and adoption in numerous states. We’ll be focused, but we will continue to grow our footprint to some degree. I think you’ll see some loosening of restrictions at a federal level, but I’m not convinced we’re going to see massive legalization change in the near term.

 

Cassie Neiden Tomaselli is a contributing editor to Cannabis Business Times and its sister publications Cannabis Dispensary and Hemp Grower. 

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Parallel Chairman & CEO Beau Wrigley Talks CPG, R&D and Market Expansion

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Multi-state, vertically integrated cannabis operator Parallel—run by the former CEO and namesake of the Wrigley Company William “Beau” Wrigley Jr.—made headlines earlier this year after announcing the company would combine with special purpose acquisition company Ceres Acquisition Corp. in a $1.9-billion deal expected to close this summer. The merger would allow Parallel’s team to make a public offering while continuing to grow the business through mergers and acquisitions.

Wrigley outlines the benefits of the deal, Parallel’s market expansion strategy, the company’s clinical research partnership with the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, as well as why he believes there’s still “a ways to go” before cannabis can become a true consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry.

Editor’s note: A condensed version of this article originally appeared in April 2021 issue of Cannabis Business Times. It has been updated to include details from the company’s Windy City Cannabis acquisition in Illinois, as well as the recent termination of Kim Napoli, Parallel’s former senior director of corporate social responsibility. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

 

Cassie Neiden Tomaselli: What enticed you to participate in this industry, and how do you see cannabis evolving as a consumer packaged good (CPG)?

Beau Wrigley: What got me into it was health and wellness. When I really started to understand cannabis—going back a couple years—I realized that it really has the potential to truly improve people’s quality of life. And obviously I’ve been successful and fortunate to run a couple different businesses. But when you can have a business that brings that to people, potentially all over the world, it’s a pretty high calling. And it’s pretty great to be involved with the foundational aspects of an industry that’s new.

On the CPG side, it’s interesting. Obviously, that’s my background; I spent many years in CPG. There are parallels, pun intended, to CPG with this, but I think it’s going to be a while before this really looks like a CPG business. You’ve got a highly regulated environment, and I think a lot of people get overly optimistic about legislative changes that are going to change things dramatically in the near future. I think it’s a little further out. Things like being able to sell outside of regulated stores is a big issue, and that doesn’t necessarily match up with your traditional CPG. A retail environment and what you do with a retail environment does match up with CPG, but you’ve got regulations on packaging and you can’t ship products across state borders. And then every state has a different regulatory environment, so you don’t have any consistency for mass marketing. So, there’s still a ways to go from a CPG standpoint.

 

CNT: While the industry is continuing to advance, what ways can Parallel enter the mainstream, drawing on the experience that you have with the legacy Wrigley brands?

BW: I think what we bring to the party is legitimacy because, frankly, my name and reputation for quality, consistency, efficacy, doing the right thing in terms of building companies, taking care of employees, developing great cultures. Our intent is to create a gold standard in this industry. We’re not necessarily trying to be the biggest, but our intent is trying to be best from a compliance standpoint. So I think we can set the table in that regard, and then that will give people more confidence in the industry as a whole. Then the way we approach it in our retail stores is very much one of education, and that’s just a matter of time—to educate people on these amazing benefits of cannabis.

 

CNT: Parallel’s expansion strategy seems to be that you go very deep into the states that you’re in (Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Texas), instead of rapidly moving into multiple states. How do you think your focus will help the Parallel company over the long term?

BW: I feel strongly about this: Businesses are more successful when they’re focused. Now, you need to be focusing on the right things, and that’s what sometimes trips other businesses up. And I love our footprint. We are in high population markets with a relatively limited number of licenses on a comparable basis. We’re always looking at different markets, and we have applications in for licenses in a couple different states. But to go out and really add to that footprint, [whereas] we could do so much with our existing footprint—it’s like, why would you open up another front? I think it will serve us in terms of the depth of our customer base and the ability to build a strong business and be more competitive longer-term.

 

CNT: Parallel recently acquired Windy City Cannabis, which will give the company a significant presence in Illinois’ medical and adult-use market. What made Windy City specifically most attractive to Parallel as a point of entry to the state?

BW: I would say several things. One, it has four stores up and running and a viable ongoing business, so it’s not starting from scratch. Two, they have two more stores, which will be opening shortly, so it will be a total of six against the cap in Illinois currently of 10. So it’s a significant store count for us with significant revenue that is anticipated to flow through those stores very quickly. Three, I like where the stores are because they’re dispersed throughout the state in places where, in many cases, there’s less competition. I think sometimes that’s overlooked. [Being] in the middle of the city can be good, and there can be volume and traffic there, but there also can be a lot of competition from that. It gives us a foothold continue to expand our business and expand our brand. [And] we were able to acquire this company, pending approval [from the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation], at the right price.

CNT: Could you share more details about the Ceres business combination announcement? How does this set you up for your upcoming public offering?

BW: We’re very pleased with the relationship with the Ceres folks. They’re knowledgeable about cannabis, which is really great. And they do bring a network and a certain expertise in media and entertainment, which is highly relevant, not from a licensing standpoint necessarily, but more from the challenge that I think every company, whether it’s CPG or otherwise, faces today which is: How do you reach your consumers? And in our case, we have multi-generational consumers who are 21 to 80 [years old], and it’s all about really unlocking the code to how do you do that.

And I think they can be very helpful for the company in that overall relationship. Obviously the transaction will put more cash in the piggy bank, so to speak, so it allows us to keep investing in a whole host of meaningful initiatives that we have as a company. And the timing is right now because people are beginning to take a harder look at the fundamentals on what makes a good company in this business. In the early days it was, “If it’s a weed stock, I want in. I want to say I own a piece of that.” But now people are starting to say, “OK, wait a minute, there are differences between these companies.” There’s differences in the boards of the companies, there’s differences in the footprint. Another difference for us, for example, is our intense focus on R&D and innovation, and we invest a lot in that. There are a lot of other companies that aren’t really doing that to the same degree.

 

CNT: The Boston Globe and MassLive reported that Senior Director of Corporate Social Responsibility Kim Napoli was recently terminated as a result of a breach in Parallel’s conflict-of-interest policy—because Napoli’s husband, Jonathan, had acquired a license to sell cannabis in the state of Massachusetts. Can you confirm these reports?

BW: Yes, this is 100% a significant conflict of interest. We have had a clear and strict policy, and that policy is that you cannot be employed by us and be in a competing business. It’s not about an individual, it’s not about social equity. If someone was working at your donut shop and opened a donut shop next door, or frankly, anywhere—and you had intellectual property, you had plans, products, would you want them in your donut shop when they’re going to be in competition with you? It’s a policy that protects the company and it also protects our associates.

I have great respect for Kim, she’s done a lot for the company. We promoted her within the organization when we purchased [New England Treatment Centers (NETA)].

Editor’s note: Cannabis Business Times/Cannabis Dispensaryreached out to Kim Napoli regarding her termination from Parallel. Napoli declined to comment on the record.

 

CNT: There are reports of some fallout from the decision. How are you communicating this decision to your social equity partners as well as your employees and your other stakeholders?

BW: It’s a tricky one, it’s a fair [question]. I am not aware of significant fallout. I think that’s sensationalized media. We have had conversations with anyone who wants to raise it. We have had general communications within our organization and others. We also believe in, to the degree possible, respecting people’s privacy within the company, so we’ve tried to navigate that territory as carefully as possible.

 

CNT: Is there a plan now to fill the position of senior director of corporate responsibility?

BW: Absolutely, there’s a plan to backfill to continue to add to all of our efforts across the entire company in every market we function in. I am a huge, huge supporter [of corporate social responsibility]. That’s why we have all the policies in place that we do, and all the benefit programs. And we’re taking action. It’s not about writing a check. It’s not about saying things. It’s about doing things.

 

CNT: What are some of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives that the company is taking?

BW: We kind of have a three-pronged approach. We have an external approach to it with our partners out there, and that can be Cannaclusive, or CultivatED, or Minority Cannabis Business [Association]. We have an internal aspect, where we have Employee Resource Groups: we have Black Empowerment Network; we have a Pride group [Pride at Parallel]; we’re launching shortly a women’s initiative throughout the company [Women Impact Network]; we have Parallel Cares, where we match donations that people want to direct in certain ways. And we have an employee relief fund, so if someone needs help at a critical time, we’re there as a company to stand by. So we have a lot going on, and it’s very deep and thorough. I think people are going to start looking into companies like ours and saying, “Wow, OK, they really get it and they’re really doing the right thing in spades.” That’s what differentiates us as a company.

 

CNT: Why do you believe it’s so important for the cannabis industry in particular to take on these initiatives like you’ve just outlined?

BW: It’s important for two reasons. One: it’s a young, newly developing industry; it’s always good to start with the right kind of foundation—and not do something and try to convert later. And I think it’s important again to set the example because there are a lot of people who haven’t run companies who are in the cannabis business, so I think it’s important for them to start thinking about these things. And then there’s social history with regards to cannabis, [such as] incarceration of people for past offenses during different times. All of this is not saying we can go back and change history; we can’t, but we can do things right going forward. But doing things right going forward is in a holistic approach, not just trying to solve for one thing, [for example,] expungement. Great idea, but let’s be holistic and make sure we develop a workforce that’s inclusive. 

 

CNT: Can you talk a little about the partnership with the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine for clinical studies on sickle cell disease, and why you’re focusing there?

BW: We’re excited about our relationship there because something the industry has lacked for many, many years is legitimate research to prove out many of the things that people already know and feel. Even though it’s anecdotal, it’s improving their quality of life, so it will be nice to substantiate some of that over time. Sickle cell is the tip of the iceberg, we’ve got lots of things we want to do with [the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine] over time. It’s a good place to start, primarily because [sickle cell disease is] something that afflicts a disproportionately high number of African Americans. And African Americans have been disadvantaged by the whole cannabis industry, and that’s something that has to be acknowledged. Maybe we can come back and really help that particular population with one of the first initiatives. But there will be other studies addressing different [ailments] as well. 

 

CNT: What about your in-house R&D? Are there any other products or delivery methods that you’re particularly excited about?

BW: I would say beverage is very exciting. And we have in-house technology on beverage, which I think is very good, [that] allows us to basically emulsify cannabinoids in liquids—some with mild taste effects and others that are actually tasteless. So we feel that in the coming months here we’ll be able to launch some products and differentiative in a very good way in that category.

 

CNT: What about running a vertically integrated cannabis company keeps you up at a night?

BW: What keeps me up at night I would say is regulatory uncertainty. The number of regulatory bodies, and in some cases, their propensity to change the rules. It’s very difficult to run any business when the rules are changing all the time and when you’re really highly restricted. It’s an education process, but unfortunately in many cases, it takes quite a while to educate regulators on benefits of doing things certain ways. It’s not the industry trying to take advantage, it’s just, [they’ve] got to understand: the beliefs of the 1960s don’t hold muster anymore, and we must move into the next century here. And as such, we need to think about the economic benefits and the employment benefits, and work more hand-in-hand with the industry. I would say the other thing that keeps me up at night is the possibility that maybe a less sophisticated operator will cut corners and do something that could be detrimental to the industry that we’re trying to create the gold standard for in terms of compliance, relationships and the like.

 

CNT: What helps you sleep at night then?

BW: I have a very supportive family, which is No. 1, and that’s pretty awesome. And it’s just experience dealing with these sort of things. I’ve seen a lot in my years and career and so don’t tend to get too flustered by things, and [I] know what we can’t control and how we are going to find our way through it. Every day in this business you wake up and the landscape has changed to a certain degree, so you just have to look at it and say, “OK gosh, I thought we were going to go here, but we’re going to have to maneuver a little because now there’s a mountain in the way.” It really comes down to your attitude and approach and your experience I think, so I sleep pretty well.

 

CNT: Where do you see Parallel in the next five years?

BW: Lots of growth. We’re going to continue to innovate, diversify our portfolio. Beverage is part of that. Rare cannabinoids is part of that, and that’s the individualized cannabinoids a lot of people don’t really know much about—things to address sleep, to disrupt healthcare—three to five years for sure we’re going to see things like that in the marketplace, and I think we will see continued behavioral change and adoption in numerous states. We’ll be focused, but we will continue to grow our footprint to some degree. I think you’ll see some loosening of restrictions at a federal level, but I’m not convinced we’re going to see massive legalization change in the near term.

 

Cassie Neiden Tomaselli is a contributing editor to Cannabis Business Times and its sister publications Cannabis Dispensary and Hemp Grower. 

Understanding Delta-8-THC: Where Does it Come From?

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Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) may be the most well-known cannabinoid in cannabis, but according to the National Hemp Association, scientists believe that there may be more than 100 different cannabinoids in cannabis.

One cannabinoid that has recently emerged in the market is Delta-8-THC.

As previously reported by Hemp Grower, the National Cancer Institute defined Delta-8-THC in a statement as an analogue of THC that contains neuroprotective properties that can increase appetite and reduce nausea, anxiety and pain. It produces some psychotropic effects that are believed to be less potent than Delta-9, the primary form of THC found in cannabis.

The legal status of Delta-8 remains unclear, as some say it’s federally legal under the 2018 Farm Bill, while others consider it a loophole.

“In terms of the legality, I think everyone is confused,” said Scott Churchill, the director of scientific operations at MCR Labs, an independent cannabis testing laboratory based in Massachusetts. “There are people that say it’s illegal because it’s a derivative of cannabis, which I believe is how the original prohibition was written, stating that anything that is a derivative of cannabis is illegal. But then the hemp farm bill came out and depending on that language [in the Farm Bill] is whether or not it created a loophole for non-Delta-9.”

Delta-8 is reported to have similar psychoactive effects as Delta-9, but the effects are much more subdued, said Roger Brown, the president and founder of ACS Laboratory, a cannabis, hemp and CBD testing laboratory in Florida.

Delta-8 vs. Delta-9: Chemical Differences:

The chemical structure between Delta-8 and Delta-9 is similar, as Delta-8 is just an isomer of Delta-9, Brown said.

“The only difference between Delta-8 and Delta-9-THC is where that double bond is located on the chain of carbon atoms,” according to ACS Laboratory. “Delta-8 has a double bond on the 8th carbon chain, and Delta-9 has a double bond on the 9th carbon chain. This seems like a small distinction, but it’s significant enough to produce slightly different cognitive and physical effects.”

And Jeremy Sackett, the founder and owner of Cascadia Labs, a cannabis-centric testing laboratory in California, agrees, as he said there is a minimal difference between the two isomers because essentially the only difference is the double bond location.

RELATED: Should Your Business Invest in Delta-8-THC?

How is Delta-8 Made?

As previously reported by Hemp Grower, Delta-8 is a naturally occurring cannabinoid, most commonly converted in a laboratory from Delta-9-THC or CBD (cannabidiol).

There are several standard operating procedures (SOP’s) that can be used to extract Delta-8, said Allison Justice Ph.D., CEO of The Hemp Mine, a vertically integrated hemp CBD business in South Carolina.

Although The Hemp Mine does not make Delta-8, Justice has gained an extensive knowledge of the extraction process from others in the industry and from being in the industry for more than ten years. She broke down the Delta-8 extraction process:

The flower is extracted so that the material that’s left is an isolate, or pure CBD, and then that isolate goes through an extensive process to get turned into a distillate, Justice said.

“Once it is isolate, a solvent is added to melt it down, and then an acid reagent is added to cause the reaction,” Justice said. “The material is then neutralized with an alkaline material, and this it is distilled to clean it up.”

The final distillate ends up being 60% to 70% Delta-8 and roughly 2% to 6% Delta-9, but if a company is trying to make a compliant hemp product, it has to be under the 0.3% THC limit, Justice said.

“Certain companies that are doing it properly will run it through extensive chromatography to remove the Delta-9 or dilute it down to be compliant [with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) final rule on hemp],” Justice said.

From there, the distillate is sent to the lab for testing.

As Delta-8 is a relatively new cannabinoid, the testing process is not always perfect, as many labs do not have the proper SOP’s or equipment in place to properly separate Delta-8 from Delta-9, Justice said.

Delta-8 Testing and Measurement

According to the ACS Laboratory website, the lab uses “Ultra High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) machinery to measure Delta-8-THC potency in flower, edibles and extracts.”

“There are multiple different ways that a testing laboratory could analyze for Delta-8, but the most common would be liquid chromatography methods,” said Sackett of Cascadia Labs.

The testing process begins when a Delta-8 sample is brought into the laboratory and that sample is extracted. When the sample is extracted, it means the lab is trying to pull out what they are looking for via Delta-8, Delta-9, pesticides, solvents, etc., he said.

“Then, we extract the sample and try to leave behind any interferences, such as the plant material, fats and other stuff from the concentrate, so we can extract exactly what we are looking for,” Sackett said. “That extraction goes onto an instrument, and we run it through the instrument.”

After the sample gets run, it gets measured against a known reference material, and then the lab can record the percentage of Delta-8 or Delta-9 in the sample, he said.

Brown echoed this sentiment, noting this was part of the ACS process, as well.

“When there is a known standard, you measure the sample that you receive against the known standard, and then you can produce results based on the potency level or percentage of the known standard,” Brown said.

In general, Sackett said he had not experienced any significant challenges to test for Delta-8 in cannabis flower or cannabis products; however, he said the challenges related to Delta-8 are the same challenges associated with any other minor cannabinoid, which is the availability of reference materials and non-standardized methods.

“Up until fairly recently, maybe within the last five years or so, reference materials were not available for Delta-8,” Sackett said. “The availability of reference materials has been a limiting factor for the ability to test for these alternative cannabinoids, but now it is available.”

Read more Hemp Grower Delta-8 coverage here.

Remembering Cannabis Entrepreneur and Coach Sara Batterby

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At the end of March, New York state lawmakers approved the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act, making it the 17th state in the U.S. to legalize cannabis for adults 21 and older. The bill establishes a new regulatory body, the Office of Cannabis Management, to oversee the new adult-use program, in addition to the existing medical and hemp markets. Other provisions are detailed in the bill; however, much of the regulatory framework has yet to be decided, leaving the 10 existing medical cannabis companies operating in the state in limbo. Cannabis Business Times spoke with Hillary Peckham, chief operating officer of Etain, an independent, women- and family-owned medical cannabis operator with a cultivation facility and four dispensaries in New York, to get her take on the bill and how the company plans to transition into the adult-use market.

Michelle Simakis: What aspects of New York’s adult-use cannabis bill that have been outlined so far do you like?

Hillary Peckham: I think it’s really incredible they have passed legislation with an initiative for diverse business ownership. That’s something we really support, especially trying to foster small business social equity licenses and MWBEs [minority- or women-owned business enterprises]. (Editor’s Note: The bill indicates the state’s social and economic equity program will include a goal to allocate 50% of licenses to a minority- or women-owned business, distressed farmers or service-disabled veterans.) As a woman-owned business, we’re very supportive of that effort.

MS: What are your concerns about the bill?

HP: Things we are looking out for, which we won’t know more until regulation, would be ensuring that there’s a commitment to the medical program’s success after legalization starts, because most states you see the medical program decline or basically go away. And to make sure the support for [MWBE] businesses isn’t just to give them a license, but that there’s ongoing support and commitment to fostering growth for those companies that extends beyond just the initial licensing. There [are] proposed startup loans. I think that will be really important because cannabis businesses are very capital intensive, and it’s really hard to find capital without traditional financing. Additionally, in other industries New York set goals for purchasing from MWBEs for state contracts, and something similar to that to make sure there’s ongoing commitment to support and purchase from suppliers or retailers in those special category licenses I think will be great.

MS: As it’s written now, medical cannabis companies can remain vertically operated and add up to four stores, in addition to the four medical dispensaries you already have. Do you plan to transition into the market, and what would be the first step?

HP: We are still waiting on details on what that’s going to look like. We can add four more stores. Two need to be in underserved areas, and there’s no definition for that. So we’re still trying to figure out what that means and where we can site. If they can make medical changes soon, that will be really great, because we’ve been waiting years now for some modernization to the program, and I think that it will be really great for patients to get access sooner and for expanded product capacity. We’re still committed to the medical program.

Hillary Peckham, COO, at Etain’s cultivation facility. Etain is a vertically integrated, medical cannabis company in New York’s medical program but plans to transition to the adult-use market. Photo courtesy of Etain

MS: As of April 13, there are more than 147,600 registered patients in New York’s medical cannabis program. In previous interviews, you’ve noted the importance of expanding qualifying conditions in the medical cannabis market to improve access, which this bill includes.

HP: Honesty I think what they’ve done is really fabulous. If the doctor thinks you will benefit with medical cannabis, then you can get access to it. So instead of having a legislated list right now, it will be much more open. It’s really critical, and it’s something we’ve been looking forward to now for years. It treats [cannabis] much more like a regular drug.

I think we’ll see a holistic change to medical program.

RELATED: New York-Based Etain Continues to Innovate Despite Limitations of Medical Program

MS: As an already established medical cannabis company in the state, what would you like to see as you transition and as the adult-use program launches?

HP: I think making the medical changes as soon as possible will really have a positive impact on the program and start to expand it, which will help drive scaling, etc., and by getting more patients in the medical program and giving more access. Right now, the thing that we are really just anxious about but can’t really comment on is regulation, or how this is going to work. There are still a lot of unanswered questions that I think have left everybody in limbo. There’s so much that needs to be figured out in the next steps that I don’t know what the path is going to be.

There are still a lot of unanswered questions that I think have left everybody in limbo. There’s so much that needs to be figured out in the next steps that I don’t know what the path is going to be.

MS: Do you have a proposed timeline or an idea of when you’ll learn more?

HP: Not yet, but we are scheduled and starting to have some conversations to try and figure that out. In the bill there are some effective dates of certain milestones, [for example,] home grow is effective for medical patients six months from the passage of the bill, so I would assume that is in line with when they are going to start making some changes to the medical program at a minimum. But there is a big administrative task to start up a new Office of Cannabis Management. So that is a huge hurdle that will just take time.

MS:  What are your thoughts on the fact the bill creates a new regulating body, shifting responsibility of managing both the medical and the new adult-use program to the future Office of Cannabis Management governed by a cannabis control board?

HP: You’ve got medical, adult-use and hemp all under one regulating body, which I think is a great idea because all three of those impact each other. Treating them holistically will hopefully streamline regulations and at least people will be conscious of changes they make. Because the hemp market and access to CBD did have an impact on the medical market and the products that you can sell, so it’s important to have a regulating body that’s aware of the impact it’s going to have.

MS:  What is the first step you are taking to adjust your business (both cultivation and retail) to cater to an adult-use market and most likely increased demand?

HP: Right now, one of the biggest changes to the medical market that will be relevant in adult use is that we [will be able to] sell whole flower. So, being able to [sell whole flower], which is the most requested product we’ve had since the beginning of the program, I think will be a really important change. From an operations standpoint, on the backend, [we need] to build out additional cultivation square footage and invest in more equipment for different product forms because in adult-use, there will be more allowable forms like edibles and things like that that we don’t currently have in medical program. The first step is [offering] whole flower because that’s the really important one for patients, and the rest is just scaling the business to get ready.

The first step is [offering] whole flower because that’s the really important one for patients, and the rest is just scaling the business to get ready.

MS:  What changes in cultivation will you have to make to prepare to offer whole flower?

HP: We do have ground flower now. Part of that is to make sure it’s metered. When you have a tablespoon of ground flower that you’re then going to vaporize, there’s a certain dosage that’s associated with that, but it has to be ground to less than 5 mm, which is a very small particle size. A lot of times it can be confusing for patients or it’s not what they are familiar with using, so being able to have full flower will be a really good step.

We’ve been ready for this kind of change, and our process will need to change because curing will come into play whereas mostly the medical program has been focused on sterilization and making sure that it’s pharmaceutical grade before it goes out to the patient. So there will be some changes in process, but I think it will not be a huge impact.

Etain’s newly rebranded packaging Photo courtesy of Etain

MS:  What challenges do you anticipate in the transition?

HP: It’s our intention to stay women-owned and scale the business, and just figuring out how to do both. Because scaling takes access to capital, and we are trying to figure out our next steps in how to accomplish that, so that’s just something that’s on my mind. Are we able to reach the scale that we need or want right now with the resources we have? And then it’s just waiting for the regulations.

MS:  What are the key opportunities for Etain?

HP: Having an existing footprint and just being able to leverage all the expertise we’ve had now for over five or six years, I think will be a really positive thing for us in this next stage. We know how to make a consistent, high quality product that our patients really like, and now we’re able to offer that and use that experience to a broader audience.

MS:  You’ve noted in past conversations that the innovative consumption methods you offer were important to Etain to improve access to medical cannabis, but there were also many limitations in the medical market. How will you change/expand your offerings with more options in the adult-use market?

HP: I’m really excited about offering some of our existing products in an adult-use setting, with more applications. Like our water-soluble powder … I think that will be really popular because you can cook with it, you could put it in drinks, like cannabis cocktails. My sister [Keeley Peckham, chief horticultural officer], in addition to being in charge of horticulture, is an avid baker, and so she’s very excited about the opportunities with some edibles. We’re starting to reach out to some companies in New York City to try and gain some expertise, especially being in New York with so much culinary expertise. So it’s exciting to be able to think about that and start to plan for it, but we haven’t made any concrete decisions at this point.

MS:  As only one of 10 cannabis companies operating in the state now, among multistate operators like MedMen and Curaleaf, how are you positioning your business to get ready for increased competition?

HP: We just initiated and launched a total rebrand of the company. So establishing new packaging and making sure we have messaging, and a better way of communicating who we are already to people. We reformulated all of our products and the packaging and just started launching that March 1, when we got it all in stores. We opened our flagship Manhattan store in August, so we’ve started to establish more of a footprint and branded materials. We are already starting to account for the fact that there will be increased competition. We also have a lot of experience that we can leverage that will be helpful moving forward. The new marketing materials also communicate our founding story and why we are doing this.

 

Fair Warning: Colorado Auctioning Off Cannabis-Themed License Plates

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At the end of March, New York state lawmakers approved the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act, making it the 17th state in the U.S. to legalize cannabis for adults 21 and older. The bill establishes a new regulatory body, the Office of Cannabis Management, to oversee the new adult-use program, in addition to the existing medical and hemp markets. Other provisions are detailed in the bill; however, much of the regulatory framework has yet to be decided, leaving the 10 existing medical cannabis companies operating in the state in limbo. Cannabis Business Times spoke with Hillary Peckham, chief operating officer of Etain, an independent, women- and family-owned medical cannabis operator with a cultivation facility and four dispensaries in New York, to get her take on the bill and how the company plans to transition into the adult-use market.

Michelle Simakis: What aspects of New York’s adult-use cannabis bill that have been outlined so far do you like?

Hillary Peckham: I think it’s really incredible they have passed legislation with an initiative for diverse business ownership. That’s something we really support, especially trying to foster small business social equity licenses and MWBEs [minority- or women-owned business enterprises]. (Editor’s Note: The bill indicates the state’s social and economic equity program will include a goal to allocate 50% of licenses to a minority- or women-owned business, distressed farmers or service-disabled veterans.) As a woman-owned business, we’re very supportive of that effort.

MS: What are your concerns about the bill?

HP: Things we are looking out for, which we won’t know more until regulation, would be ensuring that there’s a commitment to the medical program’s success after legalization starts, because most states you see the medical program decline or basically go away. And to make sure the support for [MWBE] businesses isn’t just to give them a license, but that there’s ongoing support and commitment to fostering growth for those companies that extends beyond just the initial licensing. There [are] proposed startup loans. I think that will be really important because cannabis businesses are very capital intensive, and it’s really hard to find capital without traditional financing. Additionally, in other industries New York set goals for purchasing from MWBEs for state contracts, and something similar to that to make sure there’s ongoing commitment to support and purchase from suppliers or retailers in those special category licenses I think will be great.

MS: As it’s written now, medical cannabis companies can remain vertically operated and add up to four stores, in addition to the four medical dispensaries you already have. Do you plan to transition into the market, and what would be the first step?

HP: We are still waiting on details on what that’s going to look like. We can add four more stores. Two need to be in underserved areas, and there’s no definition for that. So we’re still trying to figure out what that means and where we can site. If they can make medical changes soon, that will be really great, because we’ve been waiting years now for some modernization to the program, and I think that it will be really great for patients to get access sooner and for expanded product capacity. We’re still committed to the medical program.

Hillary Peckham, COO, at Etain’s cultivation facility. Etain is a vertically integrated, medical cannabis company in New York’s medical program but plans to transition to the adult-use market. Photo courtesy of Etain

MS: As of April 13, there are more than 147,600 registered patients in New York’s medical cannabis program. In previous interviews, you’ve noted the importance of expanding qualifying conditions in the medical cannabis market to improve access, which this bill includes.

HP: Honesty I think what they’ve done is really fabulous. If the doctor thinks you will benefit with medical cannabis, then you can get access to it. So instead of having a legislated list right now, it will be much more open. It’s really critical, and it’s something we’ve been looking forward to now for years. It treats [cannabis] much more like a regular drug.

I think we’ll see a holistic change to medical program.

RELATED: New York-Based Etain Continues to Innovate Despite Limitations of Medical Program

MS: As an already established medical cannabis company in the state, what would you like to see as you transition and as the adult-use program launches?

HP: I think making the medical changes as soon as possible will really have a positive impact on the program and start to expand it, which will help drive scaling, etc., and by getting more patients in the medical program and giving more access. Right now, the thing that we are really just anxious about but can’t really comment on is regulation, or how this is going to work. There are still a lot of unanswered questions that I think have left everybody in limbo. There’s so much that needs to be figured out in the next steps that I don’t know what the path is going to be.

There are still a lot of unanswered questions that I think have left everybody in limbo. There’s so much that needs to be figured out in the next steps that I don’t know what the path is going to be.

MS: Do you have a proposed timeline or an idea of when you’ll learn more?

HP: Not yet, but we are scheduled and starting to have some conversations to try and figure that out. In the bill there are some effective dates of certain milestones, [for example,] home grow is effective for medical patients six months from the passage of the bill, so I would assume that is in line with when they are going to start making some changes to the medical program at a minimum. But there is a big administrative task to start up a new Office of Cannabis Management. So that is a huge hurdle that will just take time.

MS:  What are your thoughts on the fact the bill creates a new regulating body, shifting responsibility of managing both the medical and the new adult-use program to the future Office of Cannabis Management governed by a cannabis control board?

HP: You’ve got medical, adult-use and hemp all under one regulating body, which I think is a great idea because all three of those impact each other. Treating them holistically will hopefully streamline regulations and at least people will be conscious of changes they make. Because the hemp market and access to CBD did have an impact on the medical market and the products that you can sell, so it’s important to have a regulating body that’s aware of the impact it’s going to have.

MS:  What is the first step you are taking to adjust your business (both cultivation and retail) to cater to an adult-use market and most likely increased demand?

HP: Right now, one of the biggest changes to the medical market that will be relevant in adult use is that we [will be able to] sell whole flower. So, being able to [sell whole flower], which is the most requested product we’ve had since the beginning of the program, I think will be a really important change. From an operations standpoint, on the backend, [we need] to build out additional cultivation square footage and invest in more equipment for different product forms because in adult-use, there will be more allowable forms like edibles and things like that that we don’t currently have in medical program. The first step is [offering] whole flower because that’s the really important one for patients, and the rest is just scaling the business to get ready.

The first step is [offering] whole flower because that’s the really important one for patients, and the rest is just scaling the business to get ready.

MS:  What changes in cultivation will you have to make to prepare to offer whole flower?

HP: We do have ground flower now. Part of that is to make sure it’s metered. When you have a tablespoon of ground flower that you’re then going to vaporize, there’s a certain dosage that’s associated with that, but it has to be ground to less than 5 mm, which is a very small particle size. A lot of times it can be confusing for patients or it’s not what they are familiar with using, so being able to have full flower will be a really good step.

We’ve been ready for this kind of change, and our process will need to change because curing will come into play whereas mostly the medical program has been focused on sterilization and making sure that it’s pharmaceutical grade before it goes out to the patient. So there will be some changes in process, but I think it will not be a huge impact.

Etain’s newly rebranded packaging Photo courtesy of Etain

MS:  What challenges do you anticipate in the transition?

HP: It’s our intention to stay women-owned and scale the business, and just figuring out how to do both. Because scaling takes access to capital, and we are trying to figure out our next steps in how to accomplish that, so that’s just something that’s on my mind. Are we able to reach the scale that we need or want right now with the resources we have? And then it’s just waiting for the regulations.

MS:  What are the key opportunities for Etain?

HP: Having an existing footprint and just being able to leverage all the expertise we’ve had now for over five or six years, I think will be a really positive thing for us in this next stage. We know how to make a consistent, high quality product that our patients really like, and now we’re able to offer that and use that experience to a broader audience.

MS:  You’ve noted in past conversations that the innovative consumption methods you offer were important to Etain to improve access to medical cannabis, but there were also many limitations in the medical market. How will you change/expand your offerings with more options in the adult-use market?

HP: I’m really excited about offering some of our existing products in an adult-use setting, with more applications. Like our water-soluble powder … I think that will be really popular because you can cook with it, you could put it in drinks, like cannabis cocktails. My sister [Keeley Peckham, chief horticultural officer], in addition to being in charge of horticulture, is an avid baker, and so she’s very excited about the opportunities with some edibles. We’re starting to reach out to some companies in New York City to try and gain some expertise, especially being in New York with so much culinary expertise. So it’s exciting to be able to think about that and start to plan for it, but we haven’t made any concrete decisions at this point.

MS:  As only one of 10 cannabis companies operating in the state now, among multistate operators like MedMen and Curaleaf, how are you positioning your business to get ready for increased competition?

HP: We just initiated and launched a total rebrand of the company. So establishing new packaging and making sure we have messaging, and a better way of communicating who we are already to people. We reformulated all of our products and the packaging and just started launching that March 1, when we got it all in stores. We opened our flagship Manhattan store in August, so we’ve started to establish more of a footprint and branded materials. We are already starting to account for the fact that there will be increased competition. We also have a lot of experience that we can leverage that will be helpful moving forward. The new marketing materials also communicate our founding story and why we are doing this.

 

Pioneering Cannabis Advocate Steve Fox Has Died

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At the end of March, New York state lawmakers approved the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act, making it the 17th state in the U.S. to legalize cannabis for adults 21 and older. The bill establishes a new regulatory body, the Office of Cannabis Management, to oversee the new adult-use program, in addition to the existing medical and hemp markets. Other provisions are detailed in the bill; however, much of the regulatory framework has yet to be decided, leaving the 10 existing medical cannabis companies operating in the state in limbo. Cannabis Business Times spoke with Hillary Peckham, chief operating officer of Etain, an independent, women- and family-owned medical cannabis operator with a cultivation facility and four dispensaries in New York, to get her take on the bill and how the company plans to transition into the adult-use market.

Michelle Simakis: What aspects of New York’s adult-use cannabis bill that have been outlined so far do you like?

Hillary Peckham: I think it’s really incredible they have passed legislation with an initiative for diverse business ownership. That’s something we really support, especially trying to foster small business social equity licenses and MWBEs [minority- or women-owned business enterprises]. (Editor’s Note: The bill indicates the state’s social and economic equity program will include a goal to allocate 50% of licenses to a minority- or women-owned business, distressed farmers or service-disabled veterans.) As a woman-owned business, we’re very supportive of that effort.

MS: What are your concerns about the bill?

HP: Things we are looking out for, which we won’t know more until regulation, would be ensuring that there’s a commitment to the medical program’s success after legalization starts, because most states you see the medical program decline or basically go away. And to make sure the support for [MWBE] businesses isn’t just to give them a license, but that there’s ongoing support and commitment to fostering growth for those companies that extends beyond just the initial licensing. There [are] proposed startup loans. I think that will be really important because cannabis businesses are very capital intensive, and it’s really hard to find capital without traditional financing. Additionally, in other industries New York set goals for purchasing from MWBEs for state contracts, and something similar to that to make sure there’s ongoing commitment to support and purchase from suppliers or retailers in those special category licenses I think will be great.

MS: As it’s written now, medical cannabis companies can remain vertically operated and add up to four stores, in addition to the four medical dispensaries you already have. Do you plan to transition into the market, and what would be the first step?

HP: We are still waiting on details on what that’s going to look like. We can add four more stores. Two need to be in underserved areas, and there’s no definition for that. So we’re still trying to figure out what that means and where we can site. If they can make medical changes soon, that will be really great, because we’ve been waiting years now for some modernization to the program, and I think that it will be really great for patients to get access sooner and for expanded product capacity. We’re still committed to the medical program.

Hillary Peckham, COO, at Etain’s cultivation facility. Etain is a vertically integrated, medical cannabis company in New York’s medical program but plans to transition to the adult-use market. Photo courtesy of Etain

MS: As of April 13, there are more than 147,600 registered patients in New York’s medical cannabis program. In previous interviews, you’ve noted the importance of expanding qualifying conditions in the medical cannabis market to improve access, which this bill includes.

HP: Honesty I think what they’ve done is really fabulous. If the doctor thinks you will benefit with medical cannabis, then you can get access to it. So instead of having a legislated list right now, it will be much more open. It’s really critical, and it’s something we’ve been looking forward to now for years. It treats [cannabis] much more like a regular drug.

I think we’ll see a holistic change to medical program.

RELATED: New York-Based Etain Continues to Innovate Despite Limitations of Medical Program

MS: As an already established medical cannabis company in the state, what would you like to see as you transition and as the adult-use program launches?

HP: I think making the medical changes as soon as possible will really have a positive impact on the program and start to expand it, which will help drive scaling, etc., and by getting more patients in the medical program and giving more access. Right now, the thing that we are really just anxious about but can’t really comment on is regulation, or how this is going to work. There are still a lot of unanswered questions that I think have left everybody in limbo. There’s so much that needs to be figured out in the next steps that I don’t know what the path is going to be.

There are still a lot of unanswered questions that I think have left everybody in limbo. There’s so much that needs to be figured out in the next steps that I don’t know what the path is going to be.

MS: Do you have a proposed timeline or an idea of when you’ll learn more?

HP: Not yet, but we are scheduled and starting to have some conversations to try and figure that out. In the bill there are some effective dates of certain milestones, [for example,] home grow is effective for medical patients six months from the passage of the bill, so I would assume that is in line with when they are going to start making some changes to the medical program at a minimum. But there is a big administrative task to start up a new Office of Cannabis Management. So that is a huge hurdle that will just take time.

MS:  What are your thoughts on the fact the bill creates a new regulating body, shifting responsibility of managing both the medical and the new adult-use program to the future Office of Cannabis Management governed by a cannabis control board?

HP: You’ve got medical, adult-use and hemp all under one regulating body, which I think is a great idea because all three of those impact each other. Treating them holistically will hopefully streamline regulations and at least people will be conscious of changes they make. Because the hemp market and access to CBD did have an impact on the medical market and the products that you can sell, so it’s important to have a regulating body that’s aware of the impact it’s going to have.

MS:  What is the first step you are taking to adjust your business (both cultivation and retail) to cater to an adult-use market and most likely increased demand?

HP: Right now, one of the biggest changes to the medical market that will be relevant in adult use is that we [will be able to] sell whole flower. So, being able to [sell whole flower], which is the most requested product we’ve had since the beginning of the program, I think will be a really important change. From an operations standpoint, on the backend, [we need] to build out additional cultivation square footage and invest in more equipment for different product forms because in adult-use, there will be more allowable forms like edibles and things like that that we don’t currently have in medical program. The first step is [offering] whole flower because that’s the really important one for patients, and the rest is just scaling the business to get ready.

The first step is [offering] whole flower because that’s the really important one for patients, and the rest is just scaling the business to get ready.

MS:  What changes in cultivation will you have to make to prepare to offer whole flower?

HP: We do have ground flower now. Part of that is to make sure it’s metered. When you have a tablespoon of ground flower that you’re then going to vaporize, there’s a certain dosage that’s associated with that, but it has to be ground to less than 5 mm, which is a very small particle size. A lot of times it can be confusing for patients or it’s not what they are familiar with using, so being able to have full flower will be a really good step.

We’ve been ready for this kind of change, and our process will need to change because curing will come into play whereas mostly the medical program has been focused on sterilization and making sure that it’s pharmaceutical grade before it goes out to the patient. So there will be some changes in process, but I think it will not be a huge impact.

Etain’s newly rebranded packaging Photo courtesy of Etain

MS:  What challenges do you anticipate in the transition?

HP: It’s our intention to stay women-owned and scale the business, and just figuring out how to do both. Because scaling takes access to capital, and we are trying to figure out our next steps in how to accomplish that, so that’s just something that’s on my mind. Are we able to reach the scale that we need or want right now with the resources we have? And then it’s just waiting for the regulations.

MS:  What are the key opportunities for Etain?

HP: Having an existing footprint and just being able to leverage all the expertise we’ve had now for over five or six years, I think will be a really positive thing for us in this next stage. We know how to make a consistent, high quality product that our patients really like, and now we’re able to offer that and use that experience to a broader audience.

MS:  You’ve noted in past conversations that the innovative consumption methods you offer were important to Etain to improve access to medical cannabis, but there were also many limitations in the medical market. How will you change/expand your offerings with more options in the adult-use market?

HP: I’m really excited about offering some of our existing products in an adult-use setting, with more applications. Like our water-soluble powder … I think that will be really popular because you can cook with it, you could put it in drinks, like cannabis cocktails. My sister [Keeley Peckham, chief horticultural officer], in addition to being in charge of horticulture, is an avid baker, and so she’s very excited about the opportunities with some edibles. We’re starting to reach out to some companies in New York City to try and gain some expertise, especially being in New York with so much culinary expertise. So it’s exciting to be able to think about that and start to plan for it, but we haven’t made any concrete decisions at this point.

MS:  As only one of 10 cannabis companies operating in the state now, among multistate operators like MedMen and Curaleaf, how are you positioning your business to get ready for increased competition?

HP: We just initiated and launched a total rebrand of the company. So establishing new packaging and making sure we have messaging, and a better way of communicating who we are already to people. We reformulated all of our products and the packaging and just started launching that March 1, when we got it all in stores. We opened our flagship Manhattan store in August, so we’ve started to establish more of a footprint and branded materials. We are already starting to account for the fact that there will be increased competition. We also have a lot of experience that we can leverage that will be helpful moving forward. The new marketing materials also communicate our founding story and why we are doing this.

 

Uber CEO Says Company Would ‘Absolutely’ Consider Cannabis Delivery

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When companies raise capital and grow, the No. 1 thing they do is hire.

Vangst, a Denver-based recruiting platform that connects cannabis job seekers with employers, is now better positioned to service that demand after launching its Executive Talent service March 29, with Jennifer Bedford as the vice president.

According to CEO Karson Humiston, who founded Vangst in 2015, more than 210,000 people are directly employed by the U.S. cannabis industry—a Leafly report estimated that number to be even higher, at 321,000—with a 75% growth in employment over the last two years. The new Executive Talent service will help companies secure administrative-level talent as they continue to build out and grow their leadership teams, she said.

“Before hiring [Bedford] at Vangst, we engaged her for our VP of revenue search. It was hands down the best experience I’ve ever had with an executive recruiter,” said Humiston, who turned around and reverse-recruited Bedford to join her team.

Before taking on the vice president of Executive Talent position at Vangst, Bedford was a veteran recruiter at Signal Partners, an executive search firm headquartered in Los Angeles, where she executed executive searches in the legal and compliant cannabis market. And before that, she serviced the consumer-facing tech sector. Overall, she is a 20-year veteran headhunter.

Vangst’s recruiting services include staffing cannabis companies with positions like marketing managers, budtenders and social media coordinators. But, until now, it did not have an executive talent offering—Bedford’s specialty.

“What CEO Karson Humiston has built is pretty much a top-tier staffing marketplace within cannabis, you know, a ZipRecruiter or an Indeed of the cannabis space,” Bedford said. “That’s exactly what we are building is a staffing recruiting talent marketplace within the most explosive growth consumer product sector in North America. It’s going to be super fun.

“We can elevate our game now for Vangst to be able to service the cannabis investors and to be able to service cannabis CEOs who want to build out their leadership teams that populate across the U.S.”

Here, Bedford shares more about how she became an executive recruiter in the cannabis space, tricks of the trade, how she connected with Humiston, where cannabis executives come from, how companies make their hires, how cannabis-sector recruitment stands out, what new states coming on board means for leadership teams and more.

Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited for style, length and clarity.

 

Tony Lange: How did you first get into your line of work?

Photo by Sarah Waters

Jennifer Bedford joins Vangst from Signal Partners. 

Jennifer Bedford: I cut my teeth at Korn/Ferry International—an executive search firm headquartered in Los Angeles—which is a really great place to learn the business. Executive search is not for the meek. There’s an art and a science to it. And I got to start with the best people in the business.

My Korn/Ferry days were all about technology. And what I learned the most from cutting my teeth was just knowing how to do this work. Getting top-level executives to get on the phone with you, there’s an art to that. So, I learned early on how to find whom I’m looking for and how to get them to talk to me.

TL: What are some of the tricks of the trade you learned early on in terms of executing leadership-level searches?

JB: The business that I’m in is a hybrid between sales and buying. I always say to people first I’m in sales because I’m trying to get “Tony” to talk to me. I like Tony’s background a lot. Tony looks like he’s a really good fit for that VP of marketing role that I have. I’m looking at Tony and I’m like, “Oh, I like him a lot.” So now I’ve got to get you to talk to me. I’m going to use my emails. If I can find any way to get you to talk to me, I’m going to do that. That’s what I learned at Korn/Ferry, is the relentlessness.

Then when I get to you, I’m going to give you the shortest amount of sell that I can so that you’ll talk to me. “My client is Apple.” Now Tony’s excited about listening to me because, boy, would he love to work for Apple. Once the sell part is accomplished, then I flip to being a buyer, which is now, “How good is Tony?” That is how executive search works. And what did I learn at Korn/Ferry? I learned how to do that.

TL: What else shaped your career path toward the cannabis sector?

JB: After Korn/Ferry, I pivoted into consumer technology, sort of grew up growing Silicon Valley technology companies, building out those leadership benches. And then I showed up at Signal Partners, my recent executive search firm that’s built to service investor-backed and owned operations here in Los Angeles—they’re a national leader as far as associating themselves with the investor side of the house. So, I was introduced to clients through the venture capital firm, or through the private equity firm, and that was Signal Partners’ sweet spot.

When cannabis clients started tapping on my shoulder and I started doing cannabis-related tech searches out of the gate, and started building cannabis technology companies and marketplaces, I went to my partners and said, “You guys, I should just call it our cannabis practice. Can I just put that stick in the sand and call it what it is?” And the answer was absolutely. We created a tech stack that was like a Porsche. To be really good in this business, you’ve got to have a killer tech stack, because if you hire me to do your chief marketing officer search, I want to know within 48 hours who are the best marketing leaders in that lane, and how can I go after them, and how can I find them. That’s what the back of the house looks like when I get an assignment like that.

TL: What year was that when you launched the cannabis practice at Signal Partners?

JB: I would say my phone started heating up with cannabis calls in late 2017, early 2018. And because my network is investors, I’ve spent years building my network of chief executives, executive-level operators, executives in supply chain and executives in technology. So, when those calls started, it was very easy for me to pivot. It was like just another consumer product lane. “Oh, I just did a kombucha search last year. Now I can do this hemp CBD beverage company, no problem.” [CBD is] the fastest growing consumer product category in the world. The same kind of executives want to get into it.

TL: Where are executives who want to join the cannabis space coming from?

JB: Well, the answers are pharma, supply chain, distribution—it’s consumer product boxed categories, technology, etc. So, my job is to sort through all of that talent and find the premier-level talent that is a trusted, vetted-out executive.

TL: Do leadership-level hires often have to relocate?

JB: That’s not a big thing right now with some states still shut down and a lot of people working remote. I don’t think you need to focus too much on that. Companies are making hires based on talent, which is, “Has she done this? Is she a rock star? How do we back-channel her?” I’ll use the edibles category, for example, “Oh, she took that jelly bean company from $650 million in revenue to $1.2 billion in revenue? Let’s talk to her.”

So, it’s much more than location. The concentration from our side of the desk is, what’s the talent? Then, as far as relocating, if you live in Brooklyn but I’m headquartered in Chicago, we don’t care right now. If it’s a job in which face-to-face is critical, then we’ll adapt.

TL: How did your previous experiences align you with your role as the vice president of the new Executive Talent service at Vangst?

JB: If I’ve spent the last 20 years building a prestigious network of killer executives, Vangst likewise has spent the last five years building the best staffing and recruiting brand name in the business. So, it was a really nice fit for me to go, “Oh, these are my people.” I can bring what I do to them.

TL: How did you connect with Vangst CEO Karson Humiston to conduct her vice president of revenue search (before she hired you as a full-time team member)?

JB: I had just finished LeafLink’s chief revenue officer search and recruited a guy out of a software-as-a-service marketplace company, and I had also found LeafLink’s head of insights, so I think LeafLink CEO Ryan Smith had suggested Humiston talk to me. That’s how the introduction was made.

TL: How does being a headhunter in the cannabis space differ from other arenas, and who are your competitors?

JB: Remember, I’m a talent scout at the executive level. Cannabis multistate operators right now want to grow and establish their executive teams. And that’s the sole focus right now is how do we have a big 2021? How do we do that? We do that by having killer executives—smart, social-equity focused, you know, cares about their organization, revenue-driven, all of that.

And so, my focus is on those multistate operators and on existing Vangst clients. We get to elevate Vangst’s clients’ game right now by giving them an executive search offering that they previously had to go out and use a search firm. You could say there’s competitors at the executive-search level with a few boutiques out there—like what I did at Signal Partners—that are doing our work. Those were my competitors then. And you’re starting to hear more search firms starting to put up their little cannabis flags and saying we can do that.

But I’m super proud to walk in the door at Vangst with a deep network of not only existing cannabis executives, but also a thousand executives with their hands in the air waiting to be called on. People want to get into this fast-growth sector.

TL: Companies are obviously counting on you to recommend the right person for the job so that they’re not coming back three months later starting from scratch—how do your executive talent searches ensure matches are a win-win for both employer and employee.

JB: You’re asking the age-old question about the part of the business that’s called human capital, and human capital is not for the meek. If you haven’t done your job right as a recruiter and you didn’t vet out what his or her weaknesses are, or vet out that his or her spouse didn’t want to be in that sector, or that his or her kid needed a special school and that relocating was a bad idea—in the human-capital space, you’ve got to know all that. You’ve got to do that homework and prepare as best as possible for this candidate to be successful at the company.

If somebody falls out at three months, what do we do? Well, there are different contractual promises that I say to a client. But my job is to give you a candidate who is so psyched to grow the business, and I’ve done all the homework to make sure that they’re not going to fall out.

TL: Virginia, New York and New Mexico are some of the recent states making moves to legalize adult-use cannabis. Do you feel more pressure to understand those additional state-legal markets, or are you more excited for additional opportunities?

JB: Great question; it’s both. The excitement level not only is elevating on a state-by-state basis, but also at the federal level. What cannabis has always been from the beginning has been a state-by-state chess game. And we’re all moving our chess pieces one piece at a time. And I think what we’re seeing in the state-by-state legalization conversation is that if you look at New York as an example, we’re getting better at this. As legalization efforts are hitting the East, the cannabis sector is so much more mature now. And if you fold the politics and the social equity components and the expungement components and all of that, really what I call good-news aspects of cannabis legalization, you’re going to see us getting better. You’re going to see this sector getting better. It really is analogous to other growth industries that we’ve seen over time.

And I pay attention to history. I pay attention to industries that have had their growing pains. And, boy, last year with the pandemic was certainly one of them for cannabis because cannabis, yes, we were deemed an essential medicine right at the beginning of COVID-19, but there was also a lot of recalibrating that went on last year. So, I think we’re hitting our stride. I think MSOs, Vangst clients, cannabis companies, cannabis ancillary companies, the technology companies associated with the sector, everybody is really flexing this year. It’s going to be a year in which you’re going to see a ton of growth. And, from my perspective, as somebody who cares about the sector, I want to see that growth from the executive level and from the C-suite. I want to see it done thoughtfully and carefully.

Q&A With Etain’s COO Hillary Peckham on Adult-Use Legalization in New York

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When companies raise capital and grow, the No. 1 thing they do is hire.

Vangst, a Denver-based recruiting platform that connects cannabis job seekers with employers, is now better positioned to service that demand after launching its Executive Talent service March 29, with Jennifer Bedford as the vice president.

According to CEO Karson Humiston, who founded Vangst in 2015, more than 210,000 people are directly employed by the U.S. cannabis industry—a Leafly report estimated that number to be even higher, at 321,000—with a 75% growth in employment over the last two years. The new Executive Talent service will help companies secure administrative-level talent as they continue to build out and grow their leadership teams, she said.

“Before hiring [Bedford] at Vangst, we engaged her for our VP of revenue search. It was hands down the best experience I’ve ever had with an executive recruiter,” said Humiston, who turned around and reverse-recruited Bedford to join her team.

Before taking on the vice president of Executive Talent position at Vangst, Bedford was a veteran recruiter at Signal Partners, an executive search firm headquartered in Los Angeles, where she executed executive searches in the legal and compliant cannabis market. And before that, she serviced the consumer-facing tech sector. Overall, she is a 20-year veteran headhunter.

Vangst’s recruiting services include staffing cannabis companies with positions like marketing managers, budtenders and social media coordinators. But, until now, it did not have an executive talent offering—Bedford’s specialty.

“What CEO Karson Humiston has built is pretty much a top-tier staffing marketplace within cannabis, you know, a ZipRecruiter or an Indeed of the cannabis space,” Bedford said. “That’s exactly what we are building is a staffing recruiting talent marketplace within the most explosive growth consumer product sector in North America. It’s going to be super fun.

“We can elevate our game now for Vangst to be able to service the cannabis investors and to be able to service cannabis CEOs who want to build out their leadership teams that populate across the U.S.”

Here, Bedford shares more about how she became an executive recruiter in the cannabis space, tricks of the trade, how she connected with Humiston, where cannabis executives come from, how companies make their hires, how cannabis-sector recruitment stands out, what new states coming on board means for leadership teams and more.

Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited for style, length and clarity.

 

Tony Lange: How did you first get into your line of work?

Photo by Sarah Waters

Jennifer Bedford joins Vangst from Signal Partners. 

Jennifer Bedford: I cut my teeth at Korn/Ferry International—an executive search firm headquartered in Los Angeles—which is a really great place to learn the business. Executive search is not for the meek. There’s an art and a science to it. And I got to start with the best people in the business.

My Korn/Ferry days were all about technology. And what I learned the most from cutting my teeth was just knowing how to do this work. Getting top-level executives to get on the phone with you, there’s an art to that. So, I learned early on how to find whom I’m looking for and how to get them to talk to me.

TL: What are some of the tricks of the trade you learned early on in terms of executing leadership-level searches?

JB: The business that I’m in is a hybrid between sales and buying. I always say to people first I’m in sales because I’m trying to get “Tony” to talk to me. I like Tony’s background a lot. Tony looks like he’s a really good fit for that VP of marketing role that I have. I’m looking at Tony and I’m like, “Oh, I like him a lot.” So now I’ve got to get you to talk to me. I’m going to use my emails. If I can find any way to get you to talk to me, I’m going to do that. That’s what I learned at Korn/Ferry, is the relentlessness.

Then when I get to you, I’m going to give you the shortest amount of sell that I can so that you’ll talk to me. “My client is Apple.” Now Tony’s excited about listening to me because, boy, would he love to work for Apple. Once the sell part is accomplished, then I flip to being a buyer, which is now, “How good is Tony?” That is how executive search works. And what did I learn at Korn/Ferry? I learned how to do that.

TL: What else shaped your career path toward the cannabis sector?

JB: After Korn/Ferry, I pivoted into consumer technology, sort of grew up growing Silicon Valley technology companies, building out those leadership benches. And then I showed up at Signal Partners, my recent executive search firm that’s built to service investor-backed and owned operations here in Los Angeles—they’re a national leader as far as associating themselves with the investor side of the house. So, I was introduced to clients through the venture capital firm, or through the private equity firm, and that was Signal Partners’ sweet spot.

When cannabis clients started tapping on my shoulder and I started doing cannabis-related tech searches out of the gate, and started building cannabis technology companies and marketplaces, I went to my partners and said, “You guys, I should just call it our cannabis practice. Can I just put that stick in the sand and call it what it is?” And the answer was absolutely. We created a tech stack that was like a Porsche. To be really good in this business, you’ve got to have a killer tech stack, because if you hire me to do your chief marketing officer search, I want to know within 48 hours who are the best marketing leaders in that lane, and how can I go after them, and how can I find them. That’s what the back of the house looks like when I get an assignment like that.

TL: What year was that when you launched the cannabis practice at Signal Partners?

JB: I would say my phone started heating up with cannabis calls in late 2017, early 2018. And because my network is investors, I’ve spent years building my network of chief executives, executive-level operators, executives in supply chain and executives in technology. So, when those calls started, it was very easy for me to pivot. It was like just another consumer product lane. “Oh, I just did a kombucha search last year. Now I can do this hemp CBD beverage company, no problem.” [CBD is] the fastest growing consumer product category in the world. The same kind of executives want to get into it.

TL: Where are executives who want to join the cannabis space coming from?

JB: Well, the answers are pharma, supply chain, distribution—it’s consumer product boxed categories, technology, etc. So, my job is to sort through all of that talent and find the premier-level talent that is a trusted, vetted-out executive.

TL: Do leadership-level hires often have to relocate?

JB: That’s not a big thing right now with some states still shut down and a lot of people working remote. I don’t think you need to focus too much on that. Companies are making hires based on talent, which is, “Has she done this? Is she a rock star? How do we back-channel her?” I’ll use the edibles category, for example, “Oh, she took that jelly bean company from $650 million in revenue to $1.2 billion in revenue? Let’s talk to her.”

So, it’s much more than location. The concentration from our side of the desk is, what’s the talent? Then, as far as relocating, if you live in Brooklyn but I’m headquartered in Chicago, we don’t care right now. If it’s a job in which face-to-face is critical, then we’ll adapt.

TL: How did your previous experiences align you with your role as the vice president of the new Executive Talent service at Vangst?

JB: If I’ve spent the last 20 years building a prestigious network of killer executives, Vangst likewise has spent the last five years building the best staffing and recruiting brand name in the business. So, it was a really nice fit for me to go, “Oh, these are my people.” I can bring what I do to them.

TL: How did you connect with Vangst CEO Karson Humiston to conduct her vice president of revenue search (before she hired you as a full-time team member)?

JB: I had just finished LeafLink’s chief revenue officer search and recruited a guy out of a software-as-a-service marketplace company, and I had also found LeafLink’s head of insights, so I think LeafLink CEO Ryan Smith had suggested Humiston talk to me. That’s how the introduction was made.

TL: How does being a headhunter in the cannabis space differ from other arenas, and who are your competitors?

JB: Remember, I’m a talent scout at the executive level. Cannabis multistate operators right now want to grow and establish their executive teams. And that’s the sole focus right now is how do we have a big 2021? How do we do that? We do that by having killer executives—smart, social-equity focused, you know, cares about their organization, revenue-driven, all of that.

And so, my focus is on those multistate operators and on existing Vangst clients. We get to elevate Vangst’s clients’ game right now by giving them an executive search offering that they previously had to go out and use a search firm. You could say there’s competitors at the executive-search level with a few boutiques out there—like what I did at Signal Partners—that are doing our work. Those were my competitors then. And you’re starting to hear more search firms starting to put up their little cannabis flags and saying we can do that.

But I’m super proud to walk in the door at Vangst with a deep network of not only existing cannabis executives, but also a thousand executives with their hands in the air waiting to be called on. People want to get into this fast-growth sector.

TL: Companies are obviously counting on you to recommend the right person for the job so that they’re not coming back three months later starting from scratch—how do your executive talent searches ensure matches are a win-win for both employer and employee.

JB: You’re asking the age-old question about the part of the business that’s called human capital, and human capital is not for the meek. If you haven’t done your job right as a recruiter and you didn’t vet out what his or her weaknesses are, or vet out that his or her spouse didn’t want to be in that sector, or that his or her kid needed a special school and that relocating was a bad idea—in the human-capital space, you’ve got to know all that. You’ve got to do that homework and prepare as best as possible for this candidate to be successful at the company.

If somebody falls out at three months, what do we do? Well, there are different contractual promises that I say to a client. But my job is to give you a candidate who is so psyched to grow the business, and I’ve done all the homework to make sure that they’re not going to fall out.

TL: Virginia, New York and New Mexico are some of the recent states making moves to legalize adult-use cannabis. Do you feel more pressure to understand those additional state-legal markets, or are you more excited for additional opportunities?

JB: Great question; it’s both. The excitement level not only is elevating on a state-by-state basis, but also at the federal level. What cannabis has always been from the beginning has been a state-by-state chess game. And we’re all moving our chess pieces one piece at a time. And I think what we’re seeing in the state-by-state legalization conversation is that if you look at New York as an example, we’re getting better at this. As legalization efforts are hitting the East, the cannabis sector is so much more mature now. And if you fold the politics and the social equity components and the expungement components and all of that, really what I call good-news aspects of cannabis legalization, you’re going to see us getting better. You’re going to see this sector getting better. It really is analogous to other growth industries that we’ve seen over time.

And I pay attention to history. I pay attention to industries that have had their growing pains. And, boy, last year with the pandemic was certainly one of them for cannabis because cannabis, yes, we were deemed an essential medicine right at the beginning of COVID-19, but there was also a lot of recalibrating that went on last year. So, I think we’re hitting our stride. I think MSOs, Vangst clients, cannabis companies, cannabis ancillary companies, the technology companies associated with the sector, everybody is really flexing this year. It’s going to be a year in which you’re going to see a ton of growth. And, from my perspective, as somebody who cares about the sector, I want to see that growth from the executive level and from the C-suite. I want to see it done thoughtfully and carefully.