RAD Speakers

Bob Phibbs

In the world of retail design Bob Phibbs is known as “The Retail Doctor” due to his ability to revitalize brick-and-mortar businesses with compelling modern designs and new business strategies to compete against in a world dominated by online sales. Phibbs has given direction to thousands of companies including Bernina, Brother, Caesars Palace, Hunter Douglas, Lego, Omega, Hearts on Fire, Husqvarna, Vera Bradley and Yamaha.  As an internationally recognized business strategist, customer service expert, sales coach, marketing mentor, author of three books and motivational business speaker, Phibbs has helped countless retail professionals transition their businesses into models that engage customers and reward owners. Phibbs’ 30 years of success has made him the go-to retail expert for world-famous media companies such as The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur, ABC, MSNBC and PBS. As a consultant Phibbs has a proven track record to increase sales between 20-50%.

Megan Stone

Since 2013, the founder and principal of High Road Design Studio, Megan Stone has attained fame as the preeminent authority on cannabis retail design. High Road Design Studio has designed more than 30 cannabis retail stores including Gnome Grown, TruMed and Level Up. Stone’s work has been lauded publications such as Marijuana Venture, Forbes, Entrepreneur, Architectural Digest Online and Interior Design. Stone and her firm have won numerous awards for its retail designs.

Loretta Soffe

After overseeing Nordstrom’s $2 billion women’s apparel department and growing its online business from $150 million to $270 million, Loretta Soffe ventured out on her own as a consultant to executives with retail businesses. As the principal of Loretta Soffe Consulting, Soffe draws on her 30 years of experience as an executive and advisor to some of the largest retail companies in the world to provide CEOs and equity investors with digital and retail strategies for their businesses.

Patricia M. Johnson and Richard F. Outcalt

Richard F. Outcalt and Patricia M. Johnson are certified management consultants and recognized experts in strategic retailing. The duo has been consulting, speaking and writing about retail strategy since 1990. They are the co-founders of CannabisRetailBiz.com, an online resource of retail strategies, tips and tools for store owners and managers.

Anne Marie Luthro

Anne Marie Luthro has spent more than 20 years researching consumer psychology and the ways retail environments influence purchasing decisions. She works to build harmonious retail environments, offering store owners evaluations from the consumer standpoint. She owns AML Insights, an online portal into consumer psychology and retail atmospherics.

Brenda Wells, Ph.D.

Brenda Wells, Ph.D. is a highly sought-after expert in the world of risk management and insurance and the Robert F. Bird Distinguished Professor of Risk and Insurance at East Carolina University. Wells has received the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) and Accredited Advisor in Insurance (AAI) designations. She is the owner of Risk Education Strategies in Greenville, North Carolina.

Gleam Law

Gleam Law is a full-service law firm with offices in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Founder and managing partner Neil Juneja and attorney Mia Getlin will be speaking on legal matters pertaining to cannabis retailers.

Steven Kessler

Steven Kessler is the co-founder and president of KlickTrack, a software company that acts as a compliance translator, point-of-sales system and a sales platform. Kessler is also the co-founder of Paper & Leaf, a cannabis retail store in Bainbridge, Washington.

Bridget Renee

Co-founder of KindTyme and Marijuana Venture 40 Under 40 alumni Bridget Renee is an expert in providing 21st century marketing tactics to cannabis businesses. At KindTyme, Renee is responsible for SEO, marketing, project management and creating a cohesive vision for clients.

Judy Campbell

Judy Campbell is the president and chief strategist of Campbell Consulting, a consulting firm that has provided content creation, public relations, marketing, media training, crisis communications and digital communication services to clients inside and outside the cannabis industry since 1996.

Daniel Herrington

Daniel Herrington is the chief operating officer of Left Coast Financial Solutions, a business that helps cannabis operators access safe and financially viable solutions for banking in the cannabis industry. Herrington has worked in IT and software development for more than 20 years.

Charles Feldmann

Super lawyer Charles Feldmann is the managing partner at Feldmann Nagel Cantafio PLCC and oversees the firm’s international cannabis practices. Feldmann also manages national and state wildlife defense and the firm’s military justice international division.

Tyler Beuerlein

As executive vice president of business development for Hypur, Tyler Beuerlein is responsible for building brands, strategic partnerships and managing the company’s key relationships. Beuerlein is an expert in cannabis banking, regulations, key influencers and the market’s history.

Melissa Roeder

Melissa K. Roeder is of counsel in Foley & Mansfield’s Seattle office. She is well recognized in the Pacific Northwest defense community, delivering effective and practical solutions in the fields of cannabis/marijuana law. She is a nationwide leader in developing educational programs to prepare cannabis businesses for the various legal issues and litigation facing this nascent industry, including product and premises liability for both recreational and medical marijuana growers, suppliers and vendors.

Jeremy McKinley

As director of retail success for AXIS Display Group, a company that designs and produces retail displays, environments, signs, fixtures and interactive displays for retail stores, Jeremy McKinley studies the B2B dynamics between brands, sales team and retail channels and provides retailers with detailed plans for operating in the field. McKinley has nearly 30 years of retail experience and has worked with brands such as The GAP and Trek Bicycle.

Sandy Suchoff

Principal of The Canna CPAs (Lefstein-Suchoff & Associates, LLC), Sandy Suchoff has been featured on MSNBC and FOX News as a tax adviser, but her expertise goes much further than CPA work. Suchoff is also a certified tax planner, a certified tax resolution specialist and a QuickBooks Pro Advisor. Suchoff helped form Lefstein-Suchoff & Associates in 1997 and helped expand the company to offer its services to cannabis operators.

Blake Albertsen

Blake Albertsen is the regional sales manager for Salient Systems, a leader in the electronic security industry and security compliance in the cannabis industry. Albertsen helps design security systems for cannabis businesses across the Pacific Northwest, western Colorado and Canada. He is an expert in surveillance solutions and has more than 14 years of experience in designing and implementing security solutions.

Jesce Horton

Jesce Horton is the co-founder and former director of the Minority Cannabis Business Association, as well as the co-founder of Saints, a cannabis production company in Oregon. Horton is an advocate for bringing more diversity to the cannabis industry.

Aaron Pelley

Aaron Pelley, the managing partner of Cultiva Law, a cannabis law firm based in Seattle, Washington, has spent the last decade practicing cannabis law. Super Lawyers has listed Pelley on its list of rising stars for 2010, 2014, 2015 and 2016, and the National Trial Lawyers has listed him in its list of top 100 trial lawyers.

Glen Nagel, ND

Naturopathic physician and co-owner of the cannabis botanical product line Protanicals, Glen Nagel has spent 35 years in the world of herbal medicine. His expertise not only covers traditional herbology but also the inner workings of cannabinoids such as CBD and THC. Nagel believes cannabis might hold the key to furthering herbal medicine, once its relationship with other herbs is better understood.

Casey Connell

Founder of Contender Gardens, a Washington producer/processor and prior to that, MMJ collective garden Contender Agriculture, Casey Connell has spent nearly 20 years working to streamline cannabis production and maximize plant yields. Connell has a degree in economics and four degrees from Oaksterdam University. He has been growing medical cannabis since 2001 and spent the last six years researching biocontrol techniques such as integrated pest management.

Jeremy Jacobs

Jeremy Jacobs is the chairman of Enlighten, a digital menu, advertising and POS service company. Jacobs has more than a decade of experience in digital signage, interactive kiosks and digital menus. Enlighten works with more than 650 cannabis businesses.

Paul Edwards

Paul Edwards is the co-founder and CEO of CEDR, a business that provides human resource services to cannabis companies. Edwards has more than 25 years of experience as a business owner and a manager. He established CEDR in 2006 to provide medical and dental facilities with HR support and has since expanded the company’s range in clients to include cannabis businesses.

Joy Beckerman

Joy Beckerman, the principal of Hemp Ace International, has been a cannabis and hemp advocate for more than 25 years. Beckerman provides legal support, brokering services and consulting for a variety of clients involved with the hemp and cannabis industry. Beckerman was named the “2014 National Hemp Activist of the Year” by the Hemp Industries Association, and the “2016 Regional Cannabis Activist of the Year” by Seattle Hempfest.

Mardi Najafi

In addition to his background in industrial design and furniture design, Figure3’s director of retail design, Madi Najafi, has more than 20 years of experience in retail design. Najafi has worked for clients such as Telus, Surterra Wellness and Penguin Shop.

Gabe Goldberg

Gabe Goldberg is the founder of Hone Marketing and the chief marketing officer of a portfolio of high-growth consumer health and cosmetic brands. His focus is developing emotionally resonant brand stories that translate to all marketing channels with measurable ROI. He developed brand and communication strategy for Johnson & Johnson consumer brands including Tylenol, Zyrtec, Sudafed and Benadryl. Now he is driving the high-growth brands Urban Float, TruFusion – Washington and SST Group. With more than 20 years of experience, he’s also worked with media properties at Time Inc. and Conde Nast, the retail giant Starbucks, Unilever and The Annenberg Foundation, a global philanthropy organization.

In addition to his hands-on experience, he was a research contributor to two marketing books: “A New Brand World: Eight Principles for Achieving Brand Leadership in the Twenty-First Century” and “Fascinate: Your 7 Triggers to Persuasion and Captivation.”