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Thursday, May 24th, 2018

The California Cannabis Entertainment and Technology Forum

10 AM - 10:45 AM - Herscher Hall - Guerin B

Meet the Cannabis Visionaries – Media, Technology & Legalization

Moderator - Drake Sutton Shearer, CEO, PRØHBTD

Clement Kwan, co-founder, Beboe (“The Hermès of Cannabis” – NY Times)

Susan Soares, Founder, C.A.R.E.

Jason Pinsky, Chief Cannabis Evangelist, Eaze

Eric D. Shevin, Esq., Shevin Law Group

BigMike Straumietis, Founder & CEO, Advanced Nutrients

Adam E. Levin, CEO, Hightimes Holding Corp

 

Eric D. Shevin, Founder / Attorney At Law: For over 25 years, Mr. Shevin’s legal practice has focused exclusively in the area of criminal defense and cannabis law, defending clients in State and Federal courts across the nation. Mr. Shevin has won significant victories for his clients in California, Arizona, Hawaii, Louisiana, Missouri, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Wisconsin.  Mr. Shevin also provides counsel to lawful cannabis cultivators, processors, distributors, dispensary and delivery outlets on issues involving legal structure, business formation, tax reporting and compliant business operations.  Mr. Shevin’s client list includes cannabis industry leaders in all aspects of the cannabis industry. Mr. Shevin also assists clients with brand development, trademark and marketing

solutions. Through his extensive experience, Mr. Shevin possesses advanced knowledge of the laws pertaining to the cannabis regulatory landscape and providing guidance to business groups in the emerging cannabis industry. Throughout his career, Mr. Shevin has been an advocate for sensible marijuana regulations and has taught courses in cannabis law and policy to Judges and Lawyers throughout the country. Mr. Shevin has been featured and/or quoted in the following media outlets: Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Daily Journal, ABC News, CBS News, MSNBC, Fox News, the Newshour with Jim Lehrer, Huffington Post, National Public Radio, Hartford Courant, Orange County Register, Orange County Weekly,  LA Weekly, The 420 Times, West Coast Leaf, Marijuana Anti Prohibition Project, Press Enterprise, Metropolitan News Enterprise, Hemp Evolution, The Compassion Club, Cannabis News, The Medical Marijuana Magazine, The Marijuana News, and was featured in the High Times Freedom Fighter of the Month article in 1995.  Mr. Shevin is listed with the Top 100 National Trial Attorneys, and is a recognized “Superlawyer” in California since 2004, representing the Top 5% of all attorneys. Mr. Shevin is a lifetime member of the NORML Legal Committee, dedicated to the reform of marijuana laws. Mr. Shevin was awarded the Defender of Justice Award by California’s advocacy group, Americans for Safe Access. Mr. Shevin is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court.

 

Adam E. Levin is the founder of Hightimes Holding Corp and has served as its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer since its inception in December 2016. In March, 2017, Mr. Levin led the acquisition of Trans-High Corporation and has served as Chief Executive Officer of the High Times Group since March 2017. He brings over 15 years of leadership experience running Internet-based technology and e-commerce companies to his role as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Levin is the Founder of Oreva Capital, and has served as Managing Director at Criterion Capital Partners. Mr. Levin has an extensive leadership experience in social media, e-commerce companies and venture capital. Mr. Levin has been Managing Director of Oreva Capital Corp, since September 2016 and for five years prior to that was the Managing Director of Vert Capital Corp where he oversaw the day to day operations of the firm and led the acquisition of a number of companies. He has extensive experience in the fields of mobile, social networking, entertainment as well as venture capital and merger and acquisition strategies. Mr. Levin has been a featured speaker at many events, such as CES, MIPTV, and MONY Conference, and has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The NY Times, Fortune, Bloomberg and Entrepreneur Magazine. He has appeared on CNN, NPR, MSNBC, HBO and Fox News. Mr. Levin also served as Chief Executive Officer and a director of Bebo.com, Inc., a social networking and content website, from 2010 to 2012. Mr. Levin serves on the board of directors of Pride Media, Inc., and previously served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Pixelmags until its sale in 2016. Mr. Levin earned a BA from Thomas Edison State College.

 

Susan Soares, Founder, C.A.R.E.: Susan has been an entrepreneur all of her adult life. She had a clothing company for 10 years, Weeds & Doilies, opened a hair salon in Newport Beach, produced a feature film, created an alternative content program with a national theatre chain and currently is the Executive Director of C.A.R.E. (Cannabis Advocasy, Rallies & Events). As a serial entrepreneur, she has worn many hats including expertise in digital media, marketing, social media, start ups, advertising, business development, public policy, market research, film production and cannabis cultivation. Her annual conference, The State of Cannabis is an important policy summit that brings together cannabis business leaders, investors, regulators and elected officials to create conscious and sustainable solutions for the new industry. She is currently planning her 4th annual artist gifting house during Coachella.

 

Clement Kwan, co-founder, Beboe: Clement Kwan started his professional career in Tech Mergers and Acquisitions and transitioned into business development and executive roles across the fashion industry working for companies such as: Theory, Diesel and Dolce & Gabbana. In 2012, Clement joined YOOX Group, a global e-commerce retailer as President of their US operations. Until July 2016, launched and oversaw the Marley Natural brand as COO. He is an experienced cannabis grower. To quote the NY Times Article, "Beboe’s wares could pass for the latest French fragrance on sale at Bergdorf Goodman. The company’s disposable vaporizers, which retail for $60 and are good for about 150 marijuana-infused drags, are sleek in design, come in only one color — rose gold — and would not look out of place poking from the breast pocket of a Saint Laurent suit."

BigMike Straumietis, Founder & CEO, Advanced Nutrients: If you grow or consume cannabis, chances are you’ve benefited from something BigMike Straumietis has done. Since 1983, BigMike has worked tirelessly to find new ways to bring cannabis to its true genetic potential. In the past 35 years, he’s overseen the cultivation of more than a million plants and brought over 50 firsts to the world of marijuana growing. His company Advanced Nutrients produces the world’s No. 1-selling cannabis-specific nutrient line and generates upward of  $100 million in annual sales to customers in over 100 countries. And his $20 million facility, the 50,000-square-foot Lacturnus Labs — designed by Ph.D.’s in conjunction with scientists from Harvard and MIT — is the most advanced cannabis-specific research laboratory in the world. Follow BigMike on Instagram @bigmike, and on his blog at GrowersUnderground.com, and listen to him on his Business Outlaws podcast.


Jason Pinsky is the Chief Cannabis Evangelist at Eaze.  His career encompasses over 20 years of hands-on experience with cannabis spanning back to 1994 when he judged the first High Times Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam. In 2014 after a decade of opioid dependency due to a spinal injury, Pinsky used cannabis to end his relationship with prescription pain medication.  He then partnered with Compassionate Care New York to help pass New York’s medical marijuana legislation and later was part of a coalition that got chronic pain written into the law as a qualifying condition for patients. In 2017 Pinsky partnered with Vice Media as Cannabis Producer for Bong Appetit on VICELAND, earning him a nomination for best television show by the James Beard Foundation and the title King of Mainstream Marijuana by the Cannabis Business Awards. In his current role at Eaze, Pinsky is using his experience as a patient and as an advocate of the movement to help steer the company’s efforts toward supporting a compliant and sustainable cannabis industry.

 

Drake Sutton-Shearer is the CEO and Founder of PRØHBTD who create, build and market cannabis brands to global consumers. The company owns and operates the leading creative studio and first multi-platform video network dedicated to cannabis, reaching tens of millions of people each month. PRØHBTD produces scripted and unscripted original content and maintains a popular lifestyle and culture website featuring cannabis, art, fashion and entertainment. Their creative studio provides a suite of premium video production (storytelling), brand development (design, packaging) and digital marketing solutions to help cannabis brands build their businesses and connect with consumers. The company is also recognized as the exclusive worldwide cannabis partner of Advertising Week, the NYC based events leader in advertising, media, marketing and technology. As a serial entrepreneur, Drake previously founded a Grammy winning talent management firm with multi-platinum creative clients and a lifestyle branding and design consultancy that serviced premier entertainment companies including Warner Bros, SONY and Universal. Additionally, Drake has founded, led and sold a music publishing company, a social virtual gifting company (#1 on Facebook) and an interactive social research company incubated at the Wharton School. He is also the inventor and holder of multiple patents with social and technology applications. Drake has been featured on CNN, Advertising Week, Variety, Huffpost, Billboard, Digiday, Wall Street Journal and on the cover of leading Cannabis B2B publication MG Magazine. He is also a featured speaker at events including YPO, CWCBE, ICBC, OMBC, Green Table Global and New West Summit.