The Cannabis Society Business Conference - San Francisco (Invite Only)

The Cannabis Society in partnership with Zuber Lawler & Del Duca LLP is proud to present it's Deal Making Conference on Thursday, March 28th in San Francisco. We are dedicated to fostering the cannabis community through events, conferences, dinners, & many more. Join us for a unique deal making session and to hear from Industry experts, entrepreneurs, investors and service providers on what is to come in this emerging industry. Tentative Schedule (subject to change as speakers are added): 5:45pm: Registration & Deal making 6:00pm: Opening remarks from The Cannabis Society 6:20: Keynote. 6:40: Keynote. 7:10: Break 7:20: Market Trends Panel. 7:40: Investor's Panel. 8:00pm: Cannabis Global Market Panel. 8:20pm: Reception & Deal making 9:00pm: Event Conclusion Speakers and more event details coming soon! If you are an established national or international company, and are looking to expand into the cannabis space and would like to present, please reach out to [hidden] for more information. Morgan Paxhia, Managing PartnerMorgan Paxhia is a co-founder and Managing Partner of Poseidon, one of the longest running funds in the cannabis industry. With over ten years experience in investing and finance, Morgan has developed a deep understanding of individual company analysis, portfolio construction, and risk mitigation. Since 2012, he has dedicated his investment focus primarily to the cannabis industry. Given the limited amount of information in this emerging vertical, the lack of institutional research, and relative industry immaturity, Morgan embraces an active approach of working closely with companies. He utilizes a “boots on the ground” methodology to better understand individual companies and the industry. Through his extensive travel across the US and Canada, reviewing hundreds of business plans and overseeing several existing cannabis investments, Morgan has developed Poseidon’s investment methodology tailored specific to the business of cannabis. Poseidon’s proprietary process is driven by the time spent in the industry and the considerable data collected over the last several years. He has created frameworks for analysis depending on sub-sector, company stage, and participation across the capital spectrum through our database of contacts, valuations, metrics, and other relevant factors. Morgan started his investment career at UBS Financial Services working in a Wealth Management/ Investment Banking hybrid training program. The training brought a wide range of first hand experience working through several facets of the organization, including advisory teams managing assets for high net worth individuals and municipal bonds trading. Following UBS, Morgan transitioned to a Providence-based Registered Investment Advisor as an Investment Consultant. During that time, he worked under the partners of the firm doing fundamental portfolio management.Morgan graduated from the University of Rhode Island with a B.S. in Applied Mathematics in 2005. Tom Zuber, Managing Partner of Zuber Lawler & Del Duca LLP. Tom Zuber has advised some of the most iconic companies in the world on their patent and trademark portfolios. He is at the cutting edge of cannabis patent and trademark law. Tom holds a law degree from Columbia Law School, a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard Government School, and a biomedical engineering degree from Rutgers University, where he graduated with highest honors. Steven J. Schuman, Managing Director of Halley Venture Partners, L.P. Halley Venture Partners, L.P. is venture investment firm Steven J. Schuman founded in 2017 that focuses on building the best cannabis-related technology companies. Mr. Schuman has 15 years of public and private equity investment experience, and spent an additional 5 years in agriculture-related manufacturing. From 2010-2016, Mr. Schuman was a Senior Analyst and Portfolio Manager for Passport Capital, LLC, a multi-billion dollar investment management firm headquartered in San Francisco. Prior to Passport, Mr. Schuman was a Senior Sell-Side Equity Analyst at Prudential Equity Group covering the agriculture and chemical industries. Mr. Schuman started his career in manufacturing at Cargill and Dow AgroSciences. He has worked for Fortune 100 corporations as well as multiple start-up companies. Mr. Schuman received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from The Ohio State University and an MBA from The Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley, where he was a Mayfield Venture Capital Fellow. T.J. Leverte, Founder and Managing Partner at Marin Financing LLC Marin Financing offers clients customized lending solutions fulfilling short-term cash flow needs while providing flexibility for growth. Marin Financing looks to build long-term relationships with our clients, helping grow their businesses by providing working capital and other short-term financing solutions. In addition to providing flexible capital solutions, Marin Financing can also be an extension of our clients' management team, assisting in strategic financial matters. Prior to Marin Financing, Mr. Leverte worked at Saxa Capital which provided bridge loans to the real estate industry. Mr. Leverte is a graduate of Georgetown University. Kaisha-Dyan McMillan, Cannabis Journalist Kaisha-Dyan McMillan is a freelance writer and journalist specializing in the cannabis industry. After spending more than a decade in retail merchandising and product development, in 2016 Kaishadecided to transition years of marketing expertise into a copywriting business, identifying cannabis as her chosen niche. In the nearly 3 years since making that fateful decision, she has written content for multiple brands in the industry while also discovering her passion for journalism. Kaisha is building her own brand as a cannabis culture writer and is especially interested in telling the stories of women and people of color in the industry, particularly those in her hometown of Oakland. She’s written for multiple brands including Cova Software, Pax and PLUS Products, has been a frequent contributor to Weedguide.com, and her work has appeared in DOPE Magazine, the East Bay Express and Oakland Magazine. Gian-Paolo Veronese, Business Development and Policy lead for Big Rock Partners Gian-Paolo Veronese is a hospitality, finance and policy leader, and the Business Development and Policy lead for Big Rock Partners. Gian-Paolo is the founder of Aventine Hospitality and Vero Enterprises; Finance manager of Law Offices of Mayor Joseph Alioto and Angela Alioto. He has decades of experience in California Cannabis policy advocacy work, which began with the unanimous passage by the San Francisco Board of Supervisor of Prop O in 1991. Viken Douzdjian, General Partner & Co-Founder for Argonautic Ventures SPC Viken is COO of Trellis, a compliance software company, and investor at Argonautic Ventures, an early-stage investment fund. At Trellis, Viken implements processes and builds a team to scale a compliance software company in the rapidly growing cannabis industry. Trellis’ clients include operators in California, Canada and other global cannabis markets. Prior to Trellis, Viken was an investment professional at Marlin Equity Partners, a technology-focused private equity firm. Viken evaluated platform and add-on investment opportunities and worked closely with management teams to ensure growth and value initiatives are being implemented effectively. While at Marlin, Viken specialized in restructurings and complex corporate carve-outs of technology and technology-enabled services companies. He assisted with Marlin's public equity presence with investments in publicly traded technology companies, such as Tangoe Inc.’s take-private. Prior to Marlin, Viken worked in the M&A technology group at Wells Fargo's Investment Bank in San Francisco where he focused on software, hardware, internet and semiconductor verticals. He specialized in Mergers and Acquisitions, Debt Financings, and Strategic Advisory. Viken earned a Bachelor of Arts in Financial Economics from Claremont McKenna College, where he graduated with honors and as a Bill Gates Investments Fellow. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Claremont McKenna College's Financial Economics Institute. More speakers and sponsors to be announced in coming weeks. Title Sponsor More Info below.