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Meet Our Advisory Board

Christine Comatos

Advisor

Ms. Comatos has over 25 years of business experience ranging from start-up environments to Fortune 500 corporations. Christine brings a comprehensive understanding of the sales, operational, and financial needs for high-growth startups in Publishing, eCommerce, Consumer Goods, Ad Tech, and SaaS.

Today, Christine is Co-founder and CEO of CannabisTech.com; a digital media company focused on B2B technology in the cannabis/hemp industry. Christine oversees the strategic direction, execution, and planning.

Most recently, Christine conceptualized, built, and launched the CannabisTech Marketplace. The marketplace is an extension of CannabisTech’s media presence to help facilitate audience tech/equipment purchasing decisions. 

 

Karen Thomas

Advisor

Karen has been in the heavily regulated Colorado marijuana industry for the past six years and is considered an expert in licensing.  She submitted the first approved Colorado applications for Suitability after HB 19-1090 was approved as well as the first Denver approved Marijuana Research and Development application. 

Prior to joining the marijuana industry, Karen assisted in writing and receiving a ~$1M cooperative agreement from the National Energy Technology Laboratory.  She was instrumental in obtaining permits and licensing two multi-million-dollar facilities in Pennsylvania.  While working in the banking industry, Karen applied for and received FHA Approved Lender status for the local bank.  She is a seasoned public speaker and has served on various Boards and Committees over the years and is currently Chairperson of the Board of Directors for a Credit Union.

Earning a M. Min. degree with an emphasis on Leadership and a B.A. degree in Management and Human Relations has provided the basis for the attention to detail regarding regulations and the ability to develop strong cooperative relationships within any industry.

 

Peggy Moore

Advisor

Peggy Moore is the majority owner and Chief Executive Officer of Love’s Oven, LLC, a fully licensed medical and retail marijuana infused products manufacturer located in Denver, CO. She joined Love’s Oven in November of 2011. In May of 2014 Peggy retired from her position as a Director of Operations at United Health Group where she led post-merger/acquisition operational integration projects for the past 15 years and managed in claim and customer service operations for the first 17 years of her career. Prior to that time she worked for Allstate Insurance as well as a law firm in her hometown of Washington, IL. Among her accomplishments are bringing the Love’s Oven infused products manufacturing facility in Colorado to full FDA compliance ahead of Federal regulation. Peggy has fully embraced her unique opportunity to help shape a new industry and is actively engaged in work to that end with her industry peers, inspectors, regulators, lawmakers and enforcement personnel.

 

Breck Speed

Advisor

Breck Speed has been in the beverage business for over 30 years as an entrepreneur, a business consolidator, and a packaging supplier.  He is known for having a “big picture” vision of the beverage market and an innovative approach to capitalizing on opportunities within the market.

Speed is the past Chairman and CEO of Mountain Valley Spring Company and its packaging subsidiary Veriplas Containers.  Mountain Valley, known as “America’s Premium Water”, bottles its branded products in glass and recycled PET. It also has become a leading bottler and packaging supplier to new and emerging beverages in the rapidly changing beverage marketplace.

Currently, Breck has focused his efforts on the emerging cannabis market particularly on the beverage segment.  He is an investor in and COO of Farmington Research, a licensed processor of hemp and manufacturer of extract used in beverages.      

Breck is a graduate of Tulane University and the University of Arkansas School of Law. He serves on a number of business and charitable boards and is the Past Chairman of the International Bottled Water Association.

 

 

Greg Shoenfeld

Advisor

Greg Shoenfeld is a seven-year veteran of the Cannabis industry and has two decades of experience in the areas of data analytics, market intelligence, and retail operations. Having honed his trade across three premier data analytics and market research firms, Mr. Shoenfeld has developed large scale data capture networks, built data products that support stakeholders across entire industries, and has helped connect thousands of clients to the deeper meaning behind the data. Mr. Shoenfeld lives with his wife and dog in Niwot, Colorado. When not working he enjoys mountain biking, skiing, organic gardening and his newest passion, scuba diving.

 

Carolyn Burek

Advisor

Carolyn Burek has a Master’s degree in Biochemistry who has worked in various fields, including biofuels, Academia, and more recently, over four years in the cannabis industry. She is the owner and founder of Metta Research & Design, LLC where she plays a key role in helping clients with the initial design of the facility, equipment procurement, regulatory compliance, standard operating procedures (SOPs), team leadership, and product development. She has worked in over 15 states and Canada and, more recently, has worked heavily in the field of product research and development. She has been an active member of the American Chemical Society (ACS) for the past three years, under the Chemical Health and Safety Division and Cannabis Chemistry subdivision.

Elvin Moon

Advisor

Elvin W. Moon is a native of Arkansas and earned a B.S. degree from University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. After moving to Los Angeles, California, he earned an MBA degree from Pepperdine University in Malibu. His expertise includes 15 years in management with several major corporations, including Hughes Aircraft, Northrop, Rockwell International and Bechtel Corporation.

In 1985, Elvin Moon founded E.W. Moon Inc., located in Los Angeles, California, specializing in engineering and construction management. E.W. Moon does business with local state and federal government entities in cities, including Seattle, Memphis, Atlanta, Washington D.C. and Los Angeles. 

Moon was guest speaker at the 1998 Beijing, China International Engineering Construction Symposium. The symposium focused on opportunities and challenges; explored international building/construction trends; and fostered cooperation among Chinese building enterprises and international contractors.

He served as an advisory committee member on President Clinton’s Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection. The commission was established to examine both physical and electronic cyber threats to infrastructure (telecommunications, energy, banking and finance, transportation, emergency services, etc.). Moon was also appointed by President Clinton to the Federal Home Loan Bank board.

He has served on several boards, including American Public Transit Association (APTA) and Transportation Business Advisory Council of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) of Los Angeles County, and was former commissioner of the Los Angeles Building & Safety Board and the Planning Commission, appointed by two former Los Angeles mayors.

Moon has been active in the national political arena as well, having served as controller for the Democratic National Party for California, and had the honor of being invited to the Business Economic Reform Summit by then President Clinton to advise on matters of small business reform in this country. Moon is past president of the Palm Springs, California Tramway Board, appointed by former Governor Gray Davis and re-appointed by Governor Schwarzenegger. 

Moon has received several honors, awards and commendations, including resolutions from the California State Assembly, California State Senate and the Los Angeles City Council in recognition of his contributions in the areas of community affairs, political and community activism, development of special interest programs, and various fundraising efforts. 

The decision of strike out on his own was made at an early age. “I always had that burning desire to open my own company,” explains Moon. “At a young age of nine years old, I started my first business shining shoes.”

Moon said the key to success for his company is the honesty he maintains in business and producing quality work. “I believe in integrity, and expect that from those we employ.” While that is critical, the entrepreneur has also coupled honesty and integrity with a well-grounded business acumen that includes having a succession plan in place years before he intends to retire; having worked in D.C. with the Clinton administration as well as being known in government contracting circles in the nation’s capital; and adapting the lessons learned in corporate America (long-range thinking and maintaining a broad view) to his firm.

The success and growth of the firm lies chiefly as a result of the unique niche it carved out for itself by being a diversified Minority-owned Business Enterprise (MBE) firm. Elvin and his wife Sharon reside in Westchester, California and have one daughter, Sharita.