Conference Speakers

Kay Doyle served as Deputy General Counsel to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH), where she acted as primary counsel to the Medical Use of Marijuana Program, the Food Protection Program and the Tobacco Control Program, advising clients regarding federal and state law relating to marijuana, food regulation, environmental health, tobacco protection, and administrative law. Prior to her time at DPH, Kay worked as an attorney for Kopelman and Paige, P.C. representing private and municipal clients with a focus on issues relating to the medical use of marijuana law, administrative law, land use law and civil rights law and environmental law. She has experience practicing before all levels of federal and state court, including the United States Supreme Court. Kay is a graduate of Bucknell University and Boston University School of Law and admitted to practice law in Massachusetts and New York.

Dr. Lefsrud, an Associate Professor at McGill University leads the Biomass Production Laboratory. His upbringing on a farm and work in the oil fields of Alberta, Canada combined with his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Agricultural and Bioresource Engineering and a Ph.D. in Plant Physiology gives him a very strong background in the fields of agriculture, biology, and engineering. His research program focuses on the plant growth environmental and how to improve plant and microbial yield. The Biomass Production Laboratory focus is developing methods and technologies to improve environmental control, energy efficiency, harvesting and post harvest handling and bioprocesses of living organisms. This laboratory's primary goal is the improvement of plants for human consumption (food security), human health (medical cannabis), environmental protection (green building materials) and energy (biofuels).

Dr. Nadia Sabeh (A.K.A. “Dr. Greenhouse”) is President and Founder of Dr. Greenhouse, Inc., an agricultural and mechanical engineering firm that specializes in the design of HVAC systems for indoor plant environments. Dr. Sabeh first became interested in controlled environment agriculture (CEA) as an undergraduate, while working on a small shiitake and oyster mushroom farm in southern Idaho. For over 20 years, Dr. Sabeh has dedicated her education and career to helping farmers control their environments, allowing them to grow crops indoors, in greenhouses, and in locations that would otherwise make it impossible or impractical to do so. She and her team have designed HVAC systems for facilities growing cannabis, strawberries, leafy greens, vine crops, and mushrooms all over the world, including Europe, the Middle East, Canada, and the U.S. Dr. Sabeh has her PhD in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Arizona’s Controlled Environment Agriculture Center (CEAC) and is a licensed Mechanical Engineer in the State of California. She currently serves as Chair of the ASABE/ASHRAE co-sponsored committee responsible for developing the standard “HVAC for Indoor Plant Environments without Sunlight,” serves on the HVAC Advisory Committee for the Resource Innovation Institute, and is actively engaged in academic and industry research.

Alexi Miller is a Senior Project Manager at NBI and is NBI’s lead engineer. He brings insight and analysis about cutting-edge technologies and strategies to diverse stakeholders as part of a wide-ranging effort to improve the energy performance of the built environment. Alexi leads several programs and initiatives at NBI including the GridOptimal Initiative, the Public Buildings Portfolio Management Initiative, the Getting to Zero Buildings Database, and FirstView. Alexi has expertise in a range of topics including zero energy and zero carbon buildings, code and policy, building controls, deep energy savings retrofits, and emerging technologies. Prior to joining NBI in 2013, he spent six years at The Cadmus Group. Alexi is a registered Professional Engineer in Mechanical Engineering in Oregon and is a LEED accredited professional. He is fully fluent in Spanish and conversationally fluent in Portuguese. When he’s not working he likes to spend time in the Oregon backcountry hiking, skiing, hunting, or mountain biking.

Andrea Sparr-Jaswa is the science editor for the Cannabis Group at GIE Media, Inc., whose publications include the award-winning Cannabis Business Times and Cannabis Dispensary, and the newest addition to the group, Hemp Grower. Prior to joining the GIE team in August 2019, she headed up education efforts at the renowned science-focused dispensary Farma in Portland, Oregon. As the Director of Education, she helped to build out in-depth educational content that trained new employees on endocannabinology and cannabis science and curated weekly staff educational sessions with local researchers, cultivators and processors. Her role at Farma also included community outreach development, one-on-one consultations, and phytochemical data review to improve consumer experiences and consumption predictability through the navigation of compound variables. Her time in Oregon working with some of the cannabis industry’s top educators and researchers instilled a deep appreciation for developing a language of trust and transparency through science to improve consumer engagement and outcomes which she has carried over into her science-focused work at GIE Media. With the return to her Midwestern roots, Sparr-Jaswa is passionate about sharing all that she learned during her time at Farma and committed to standardizing cannabis education across communities.

Andrew Alfred is the Chief Scientist at LivWell Enlightened Health, a vertically integrated national cannabis company headquartered in Denver, CO. His primary responsibility is managing a Research & Development team that focuses on integrating best cultivation practices in indoor cannabis. Some highlights of his work include scaling micropropagation to meet commercial demands, working closely with top LED manufacturers to innovate horticultural solutions in lighting, and implementing state of the art fertigation equipment that both automates nutrient delivery and recaptures leachate and condensate to be recycled back to the plants. He is also very involved in community relations, sitting on several public-private stakeholdering committees such as Denver's Cannabis Sustainability Work Group where they engage all sides of the industry as well as the consumer to promote sustainable best practices. Andrew received a B.S. in Biology from Indiana University and in his free time plays bass in a local symphony orchestra and loves to play soccer when he's not recovering from one of his many injuries (all soccer related).

Beau Whitney serves as Vice President and Senior Economist for New Frontier Data. As a recognized analytics expert and cannabis economist, Whitney brings extensive experience and sophistication on every aspect of the supply chain in a vertically integrated cannabis economy. Whitney’s professional experience encompasses business operation successes from Intel and TriQuint Semiconductor, where he oversaw scale amplification for semiconductors and modules to address the rapidly growing supply demands of the global mobile device market. Further, Whitney has designed and implemented efficiencies into the cultivation, extraction, edible manufacturing, wholesale and retail distribution operations of a vertically integrated cannabis operation, which directly expanded the company’s revenue from $100K to $2M per month. His expertise on elasticity of cannabis demand, multiplier effects, modeling of illicit to legal consumer conversions, and the economic impact on jobs and taxes in the cannabis industry have been recognized throughout the economics community. Whitney Economics and New Frontier Data white papers analyzing the cannabis market have been referenced in Bloomberg, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, New York Times, USA Today, the Associated Press, as well as in leading cannabis industry publications. Whitney is a member of the American Economic Association, the Oregon chapter President of the National Association of Business Economics and participates on the Oregon Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors. He has provided policy recommendations at the state, national and international levels and is considered an authority on cannabis economics.

Bob Gunn is an energy efficiency entrepreneur working at the intersection of the electric utilities and horticulture lighting industries. Bob’s company, Seinergy LLC, created and maintains a robust database of custom electric utility incentives that can apply to horticulture lighting opportunities, searchable by 43,000 zip codes and 1900+ utilities. A trained energy and financial analyst with a desire to improve processes and remove friction in working with utility efficiency funding, Bob supports lighting vendors and their grower customers by estimating and fulfilling custom rebate applications across North America. Bob worked at Snohomish PUD, has a BA in economics and an MBA in Sustainable Business, and is a Certified Energy Manager through the Association of Energy Engineers.

Brian is a founding Partner of Anderson Porter Design with over 25 years of experience in the field of architecture, and over five years of concentration in architecture for the Cannabis Industry. Combined experience working as Architects for the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston during 9/11 and as Architects for MIT on 400,000sf of Neuroscience labs in Cambridge, Anderson and his firm have a deep background with integrated security, clean room and bio labs, which led them to be recommended for their first medical marijuana project in 2014. Since, APD has designed 25+ retail dispensaries and over 900,000 SF of cultivation facilities in 14+ states and the EU. In the process has developed a proprietary stage gate process for project delivery specific to the Cannabis Industry. Brian is an active member of the NCIA the national cannabis industry association where in 2019/20 he chairs the new Facility Design Committee, he has participated with the‘ Energy andEnvironment Cannabis Working Group’ which advises the State of MA CCC and DOE on energy issues. Brian is also an active member of the Lean Construction Institute which is a national AE&C industry group. Brian and his firm implement Lean methodologies in Controlled Environment Agriculture facilities and beyond. For more information visit AndersonPorter.com

Bryan Jungers conducts research on emerging, energy-efficient and distributed-energy resource technologies at E Source, a firm that helps utilities and large energy users with critical problems involving energy efficiency, utility customer satisfaction, program design, marketing, customer management, and sustainability. His main areas of expertise lie in resource-efficient cannabis cultivation, plug-in hybrid electric vehicle development, battery and energy storage cost-effectiveness, distributed generation integration and renewable energy power systems. Mr. Jungers has 10 years of experience as an energy engineer and analyst, including for the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), California Energy Commission (CEC) and University of California at Davis (UC Davis). He worked as a research manager and product manager at E Source before entering his current role as Lead Analyst. He holds a BS in environmental resource engineering from Humboldt State University, where he studied cannabis resource use and environmental impact, and an MS in civil and environmental engineering from the University of California at Davis. He was also involved in various capacities in the Humboldt cultivation industry for more than a decade. Since 2013, he has consulted on the appropriate use of efficient technologies in indoor cultivation facilities.

Mr. Higgins is the President and General Manager of Hort Americas, LLC (HortAmericas.com) a wholesale supply company servicing on all aspects of the commercial horticultural industries. Over the past years Hort Americas has had a special focus on horticultural lighting, hydroponics substrate and nutrient management making them one of the leading resources for greenhouse and vertically farmed vegetable growers. He is also owner of UrbanAgNews.com (online education content provider) and was a founding partner of the Foundation for the Development of Controlled Environment Agriculture and the International Congress on Controlled Environment Agriculture in Panama. With over 20 years of industry experience, Chris is dedicated to the commercial horticulture industry and is inspired by the current opportunities for continued innovation in the field of controlled environment agriculture. Chris is a leader in providing technical assistance to businesses, including commercial greenhouse operations, state-of-the-art hydroponic vegetable facilities, vertical farms, and tissue culture laboratories. In his role at Hort Americas he works with seed companies, manufacturers of horticultural supplies and equipment, growers and universities regarding the development of projects, new products and ultimately the creation of brands. Chris’ role includes everything from sales and marketing to technical support and general management/owner responsibilities.

Before she was VP of global commercial operations at Fluence—even before she was a marine biologist—Corinne Wilder was an explorer. Growing up just outside Fairfield Lake State Park, where the prairie and pine lands of East Texas merge, Corinne and her sister spent every available moment immersed in nature’s sights, sounds and smells. As kids, they would pack bags of cheese and apples and search for ancient pieces of broken pottery and Native American arrowheads scattered throughout the park. A flying squirrel named Frisbee and a 6-point buck named Hope were frequent companions on her adventures and helped to instill in Corinne a love of biological and botanical sciences that led her on the path she still travels today. Corinne has spent her career fusing her childhood love for science with the rigors of international business development. She earned a bachelor’s degree in ecology and marine biology from Texas A&M University at Corpus Christi, where she took particular interest in genetics, cell biology and plant science. A few years later, she entered the lighting industry at Universal Lighting Technologies and Panasonic (ULT), where she tracked LED sales forecasting and demand planning and was responsible for reviewing energy standards and codes for lighting technology. She earned a master’s degree in business administration from Lipscomb University in 2014, rounding out her career at ULT which covered multiple disciplines from customer service, technical engineering, marketing, lead generation, business development, and sales management. In 2016, Corinne started as manager of sales operations at Fluence, where she was responsible for all internal sales teams and resources before eventually becoming Fluence’s VP of global commercial operations. Today, she is responsible for all business reporting and analytics for internal operations, heading the company’s commercial support teams, including the utility rebates and incentives program, and directing internal processes to meet global strategic goals for the cannabis and commercial food markets.

Darrin Drollinger is the Executive Director of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE), where he is responsible for overseeing the Society and its activities. ASABE is an educational and scientific organization dedicated to the advancement of engineering applicable to agricultural, food, and biological systems. Founded in 1907 and headquartered in St. Joseph, MI, ASABE (www.asabe.org) comprises 7,000 members in more than 100 countries. A member of ASABE for over 30 years, Mr. Drollinger was inducted as a fellow of the Society in 2016. He also serves as secretary of the ASABE Foundation, which administers numerous awards, scholarships, and industry recognitions. Mr. Drollinger received a B.S. in Agricultural Engineering from The Ohio State University and an MBA from Loyola University -- Chicago. He is a member of the Order of the Engineer and is active in the local St. Joseph, MI club of Lions International. He is married and has two grown children.

Dave Nichols has more than 15 years of experience at every stage of entrepreneurship, having co-founded several technology, agriculture, and energy startups. Dave's career began in 2005 around the same time as the advent of socially responsible investing, as he worked on carbon credit projects in developing countries under the Kyoto Protocol. He then transitioned from carbon trading to clean-tech finance, leading the development of clean-tech projects ranging from energy to agriculture. He joined AppHarvest in 2018 and has overseen the company's relationships with AgTech leaders in the Netherlands, as it seeks to adopt the technology for use in the United States through its series of controlled environment agriculture facilities in Appalachia. As part of his role, Dave worked on a unique hybrid lighting system for AppHarvest's first facility in Morehead, Kentucky. The system led to the purchase of $15 million in LEDs that will help further enhance the facility's yields. Dave holds an MBA with distinction from Columbia University, as well as a bachelor’s in environmental science from the University of Delaware.

Derek Smith is Executive Director of Resource Innovation Institute, a non-profit organization advancing a resource efficient future for cannabis and controlled environment agriculture through aggregating benchmarking data and advocating for policies and incentives that drive energy and water efficient cultivation practices. RII's Cannabis PowerScore benchmarking tool and Efficient Yields workshops help cultivators, the supply chain and utilities assess performance and exchange best practices. Before RII, Derek led Clean Energy Works, recognized as one of the most successful American Recovery & Reinvestment Act ("stimulus") programs. He has directed energy programs for the City of Portland and created an award-winning corporate sustainability program for a national retailer. Derek has testified to the US Senate Energy Committee and briefed the US Secretary of Energy.

Djavid Abraham serves as Lead Systems Design at Agritecture Consulting where he heads the farm design, system sizing, performance modelling, and other operations consulting work. Djavid has experience building and advising on farms internationally and has a background in environmental studies, cannabis and food crop production, hydroponic and greenhouse equipment distribution, renewable energy systems, carbon sequestration Agtech applications, and due diligence services for entrepreneurs and investors seeking investment opportunities in the controlled environment agriculture industry. During his time with Agritecture, Djavid has personally advised controlled environment agriculture operations in over a dozen countries for both greenhouse and vertical farm applications.

Doug has worked more than 30 years in the electrical and lighting field in a variety of roles, including: lighting designer, electrical estimator, utility lighting specialist, journeyman electrician and lighting controls manager. He is currently a program manager for the Energy Trust of Oregon lighting programs. In 2013, Doug began working with medicinal cannabis grow operations providing options on energy efficient grow lighting technologies in Oregon. Once Cannabis became legal for recreation, he worked closely with energy efficient grow light manufacturers and growers learning the market. He has experienced a variety of methodologies and has been to over 100 grow operations with front line experience on market transformation of grow light technology and methodologies. He co-designed the standards for the Energy Trust of Oregon Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) incentive program.

Dr. David Hawley leads the scientific research initiative at Fluence by OSRAM, a world-leader in horticultural lighting solutions. David first developed a passion for understanding global population dynamics while pursuing his Bachelor’s degree in plant biotechnology at the University of Guelph. Anticipating the looming challenge of global food security in a future with increasing global population and decreasing arable land, he focused his studies at the University of Guelph into controlled environment agriculture, earning his Master’s and PhD in environmental sciences. Through graduate school, David investigated the relationships between spectral quality and three pillars of plant development: photosynthesis, morphology, and secondary metabolism. Through this holistic understanding of how light quality impacts these key aspects of plant development, can design optimized light recipes for targeting specific crops and developmental objectives. Additionally, David’s PhD studies included the direct exploration of cannabis photochemistry and metabolism, earning one of the first doctorates in North America focusing on cannabis production. David’s experience in controlled environment systems, horticultural lighting, and cannabis metabolome have culminated into the mission of driving industry-leading lighting research that helps create a future of high-quality, sustainable crop production.

Dr. Erico Mattos is the Executive Director of the Greenhouse Lighting Systems and Engineering (GLASE) consortium. Erico received his BS degree in agronomic engineering from the University of Sao Paulo (Brazil) in 2009 and a Ph.D degree in crop and soils sciences from the University of Georgia in 2013. In 2012, Erico completed Singularity University's graduate studies program. He is a recipient of the Gifted Citizen Award (Mexico), the 2014 Emerging Leader of the Year Award by the Georgia Bio association and two times TEDx speaker. Erico has co-authored multiple technology patents related to plants photosynthetic efficiency improvement. Erico is also co-founder and CEO of Candidus, a horticultural lighting control company developing smart lighting control systems for crop production in greenhouses.

Duncan Campbell is the VP of Project Development at Scale Microgrid Solutions (SMS), where he focuses on designing advanced microgrid systems for commercial and industrial customers throughout North America. Duncan also leads DER monetization and market integration at SMS. Prior to joining SMS, Duncan was a Business Development Associate at ENER-G Rudox, where he was responsible for development of several high-profile distributed energy projects. Duncan also has prior experience working in the utility industry for Veolia Energy North America and UGI Utilities. A certified LEED AP, Duncan holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering with an Energy Systems concentration from Temple University. In 2016, he earned professional certificates in Energy Innovation from Stanford University and Business and Financial Modeling from the University of Pennsylvania (Wharton School).

Ed is a Principal Engineer for Lighting Safety at UL having 40 years of product safety experience. He has performed equipment investigations and participated in codes and standards development for a wide range of commercial and consumer products including lighting equipment. He represents UL on several Lighting Industry technical committees including the American National Standards Institute for Lighting (ANSLG), the American Lighting Association Engineering Committee (ALA), and is a member of the U.S. Technical Advisory Group TC34 for lighting. Ed is presently responsible for developing and maintaining UL lighting Standards for Track Lighting Equipment (UL1574), Stage and Studio Lighting Equipment (UL1573) and is leading the development of UL’s safety Standard and safety programs for Horticultural Lighting Equipment.

Fran Boucher, CEM, LEED AP works as an Energy Program Specialist with National Grid and has over 25 years of energy and facilities engineering experience. He has led National Grid’s program design and engineering effort for the Cannabis production market in MA and RI since its inception. This includes involvement in 25 plus customer projects ranging from 1500 to 500,000 Sf of canopy area. The bulk of these projects include, complex, highly efficient HVAC systems. An increasing number of applications involve; fuel cells, combined heat and power and gas engine driven chillers. As an early adopter for utilities involved in this market, he has experienced challenges of all kinds including; evolution of the State lighting power standards, changes in market design practices, reworking of failed HVAC designs. Learning the hard way, he as unpacked multiple examples with energy savings falling well short of expectations. He has delivered trainings, and professional presentations, on this topic in venues that include; Cannabis World Expo in Boston, New England Real Estate Journal Cannabis Conference and the Boston Society of Architects Summer Study, and webinars by E Source and the Resource Innovation Institute. He has worked with professionals across the county researching this topic, crafting guidelines for utility incentives and reviewing energy savings analysis for numerous growing facility efficiency projects. Over the past 15 years is speaking resume includes dozens of national and regional presentations for; ASHRAE, Labs 21, ACEEE, New Buildings Institute and Boston Society of Architects, NESEA and more.

Gary has 40 years of engineering experience in the commercial, industrial, agricultural and public sectors. He is a licensed professional engineer, a Certified Energy Manager and a Certified Water Energy Professional. For the past 10 years, Gary has been working for Southern California Edison serving business customers by identifying energy efficiency opportunities and assisting them with obtaining incentives. Gary is a subject matter expert on Energy Efficiency for Indoor Agriculture.

Grant Vandenbussche is Chief Category Officer at Fifth Season, a robotics and indoor farming pioneer based in Pittsburgh. Grant holds a BA in Supply Chain Management from Michigan State University and an MBA from the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University. Grant previously held a variety of international operations and strategy roles at General Mills, where he discovered his passion for high-tech sustainable food systems. Grant's midwest journey has taken him from Detroit, up to Minneapolis, and now to Pittsburgh.

Gretchen Schimelpfenig is Technical Director of Resource Innovation Institute, and authored our two best practices guides for cannabis cultivation and controlled environment agriculture on the subjects of LED lighting and HVAC systems. Gretchen has a background in sustainable design and construction, energy efficient building systems, and utility programs for cultivators and is a licensed Civil Professional Engineer in both California and Vermont.

Ihor is largely credited with developing several fundamental technologies that render LEDs useful for illumination applications. Having helped propel the widespread cross‐market adoption of LEDs as an illumination source, Ihor helps set the direction for the companyAgnetix's technology advancement and implementation. Ihor co‐founded Color Kinetics in 1997. Upon the company’s acquisition by Philips, Ihor served as its Chief Scientist until 2009. For more than a decade at Color Kinetics, Ihor oversaw the development of new lighting, power and control products and helped formulate corporate strategy and product vision. A prolific inventor, Ihor holds more than 75 issued patents and numerous patent filings. In addition to being honored as Inventor of the Year by the Intellectual Property Owners Education Foundation in 2008, he has been named to several prestigious industry lists, including the Technology Review TR100, Mass High Tech All‐Stars, and Entertainment Design magazine’s 50 Most Powerful People in Entertainment Technology. A frequent speaker at industry conferences and events, Ihor received his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University (1987‐1998).

Jennifer Thorne Amann is the Buildings Program Director at the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE). Since joining ACEEE in 1997, she has authored dozens of publications and articles on buildings and equipment efficiency technologies, policies, and programs. Jennifer leads content development for ACEEE’s consumer-focused website, smarterhouse.org. Her current work focuses on maximizing energy savings from key buildings policies including building codes and appliance standards, scaling up retrofit activity in homes and commercial buildings with an emphasis on deep retrofits, expanding opportunities for energy savings in low-income and multifamily housing, and analyzing new opportunities for energy efficiency in the buildings sector. Jennifer brings to ACEEE several years’ experience in the environmental technology field and has experience in community organizing and education on a variety of environmental and consumer issues. Jennifer serves on the Board of Directors of the Attachments Energy Rating Council and the Resource Innovation Institute. She is an NCQLP Lighting Certified Professional. Jennifer earned a Master of Environmental Studies from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies from Trinity University.

Jesce Horton is an engineer by education, an energy management and automation expert through training, and a horticulturalist by passion. In 2013, soon after moving to Portland, OR, Jesce began growing medical cannabis in his home for two elderly patients who were suffering with cancer, pain and insomnia. After having success in cannabis cultivation, Jesce founded LOWD, a Tier I indoor connoisseur focused cultivation facility in metro Portland. Also, he co-founded the Minority Cannabis Business Association (MCBA), the first and largest non-profit organization founded to create equal access and economic empowerment for cannabis businesses, their patients, and the communities most affected by the war on drugs. Due to his past work in industrial energy efficiency and recent cannabis success, Oregon’s own Governor Kate Brown appointed Jesce to the Task Force for Cannabis Environmental Best Practice. He has continued this work through joining the Board of Directors for the Resource Innovation Institute (RII), an organization that is building the central platform for energy issues and collaboration in the cannabis industry. This year, he was elected Chairman of the Board to help RII develop a market-driven certification standard to propel adoption of energy-efficient grow techniques. As a result of his hard work and dedication to making positive contributions to the cannabis industry, Jesce has been featured by numerous publications like the Guardian, The Washington Post, Cannabis Business Times, Marijuana Business Magazine and USA Today. Additionally he has served on numerous federal, state and local cannabis regulatory advisory committees that have helped shape the legal cannabis market in Oregon and California. Jesce sees it as his mission to leverage his resources and experience to make a positive and sustaining impact in the cannabis industry: “Cannabis has the ability to do amazing good in our society, but the industry will never reach its full potential without keeping sustainable business practices, like diversity and environmental efficiency, as core principles of development and growth.” Last year, with his wife and notable industry executive, Jeannette Ward Horton, Jesce founded an historic initiative initially funded by the City of Portland, the Nu Leaf Project. This new non-profit will deliver grants, educational resources, job matching assistance and entrepreurial services to cannabis business owners and career hopefuls. In his spare time, Jesce bikes and runs with his dog Buddha and 2 year old son, Tabor, in his beloved hometown of Portland, OR.

Jesse Peters is a seasoned cannabis entrepreneur and now the founder and CEO of newly formed cannabis investment company Mantis Growth Investments – a multistate, vertically integrated business. Previous to Mantis, Mr. Peters was the CEO and co-founder of Eco Firma Farms, an indoor cannabis cultivation facility designed to operate almost entirely on wind power thus proving that environment and business sustainability are simultaneously possible. The business became the first cannabis business to receive Gold Certification through Portland General Electric’s Green Mountain Energy program. Mr. Peters was the public face of EFF, arguably one of the most recognizable cannabis cultivation brands in Oregon and was interviewed by Rolling Stone, Newsweek, Cannabis Business Times, and many other publications. Jesse remained with Eco Firma Farms through 2018 following its sale to C21 Investments. He is also a founding member of the Oregon Cannabis PAC, the Oregon Cannabis Association, founding board member of the Alliance for Sensible Markets (ASM), and national speaker and ambassador for the cannabis industry. In addition to his work in the cannabis industry, Mr. Peters spent 22 years in the Marine Corps retiring in 2017. He also continues to serve as a career Firefighter for Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue in Tigard, Oregon.

John C. Morris is the Vice President of Market Development for D+R International. Since 2014, John Morris has been conducting outreach and education to utilities and utility commissions across the United States and Canada on the best way to deliver energy efficiency to cannabis producers. John has published articles, peer reviewed research papers, been interviewed by national media and delivered numerous presentations on energy intensity of indoor grow facilities. John has worked with cannabis business owners and has seen firsthand, a number of grow facilities across the US. John and his team at D+R International have also created a Utility Line Extension Cannabis Calculator to help growers forecast facility energy upgrade costs. In 2016, John co-founded the Resource Innovation Institute, an international nonprofit organization dedicated to water and energy conservation in cannabis production. The mission of this nonprofit organization is to provide certification standards, technology reviews and a market based platform for best practices on resource conservation in the cannabis industry.

John A. Wilson has worked in the utility industry for over a decade and has comprehensive experience designing and implementing efficiency programs. Since 2007 he has also worked with craft producers to increase awareness of energy consumption and to support emerging technologies in the indoor ag space. As Stakeholder Solutions Manager for the Lighting Design Lab, John works on behalf of member utilities to proactively engage industry partners with the goal of facilitating technology-transfer and supporting utilities in their goal to create a positive customer experience. A native of the Pacific Northwest, John graduated from the University of Washington and is a veteran of the United States Marine Corps.

Kaitlin Urso is a free environmental consultant for small businesses for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment in Denver, CO. She has 10 years of technical environmental experience and a mechanical engineering degree from the University of Colorado. In her role, Kaitlin rotates through industries to focus on providing proactive environmental assistance to and create lasting program resources for. Kaitlin specializes in greening the brewing and cannabis industries.

Kale Harbick studied computer science and robotics at the University of Southern California, earning a Ph.D. in 2008. He researched crater detection for Mars landers and autonomous helicopters at NASA-JPL, before shifting his career focus to energy. Kale taught many courses in physics and energy management for over 10 years. He managed a program at Oregon Department of Energy which implemented energy efficiency measures in over 800 K-12 schools. For five years he performed research in the CEA group at Cornell focusing on optimizing environmental controls and modeling of energy and light, and continues research in these areas in his current position as a scientist at USDA-ARS.

Keith is the President of Desert Aire Corp, a Milwaukee-based manufacturer of commercial and industrial dehumidification systems. The company produces mechanical refrigeration equipment that is used to control humidity in a variety of applications including indoor pool facilities, indoor growing rooms, dedicated outside air systems, ice rinks, manufacturing plants and water treatment plants. He has served in various roles at Air Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI), a trade association based in Washington DC for the HVACR industry including serving on the executive committee and as its chairman in 2008. Keith is also a member of American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers. Keith joined Desert Aire in 1990. Prior to that, he held various sales and marketing positions at Great Lakes Instruments, a Milwaukee-based manufacturer of water and wastewater instrumentation products. He earned a BS degree in chemistry from Carroll University, Waukesha, WI in 1980.

Kyle Booth is the technical lead for the 2022 Title 24, Part 6 Controlled Environment Horticulture measure development. Mr. Booth has seven years of experience performing energy audits on agricultural facilities of all types across the US, including greenhouses and indoor horticulture facilities. He has performed market studies on agricultural energy efficiency potential, gas heating equipment, and chillers. In addition to his code development work, Mr. Booth is a lead engineer on several commercial foodservice and water heating programs and manages the gas engineering team for Energy Solutions. He has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Vermont.

Lauren Morlino is an Emerging Technologies and Services Manager at Efficiency Vermont, the statewide energy efficiency utility. Lauren researches and prototypes exciting, innovative, and efficient technologies and services for Vermont ratepayers. During her last six years at Efficiency Vermont, Lauren has researched and designed initiatives for lighting, controls, and consumer electronics. She is an external advisor on lighting program design, and has published on lighting and non-lighting topics. Lauren has presented at national conferences including ACEEE, DesignLights Consortium, HortiCann and Esource.

Leora Radetsky is a Senior Lighting Scientist at the DesignLights Consortium (DLC) where she focuses on developing lighting solutions that promote energy optimization, quality, human factors, and performance in the areas of horticultural and architectural lighting. She has over 20 years of experience in the lighting industry as a research scientist with the Lighting Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Director of Customer Education at Lighting Analysts, Inc. She has extensive research and engineering experience in horticultural lighting, lighting software, product testing, lighting controls, photometry, daylighting, outdoor lighting and circadian rhythms. In 2014, she was awarded an IES Regional Technical Award from the Northeast region for her significant scientific contributions to the field of illumination. Leora has a B.S. in Architectural Engineering with an Emphasis in Illumination from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and an M.S. in Lighting from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She is Lighting Certified by the NCQLP.

Matthew Gaboury is a managing partner of Calyx King, one of the country’s preeminent cannabis-centric design/build firms with over 50 combined years of experience in cultivating, processing, and dispensing marijuana. In addition, he is an owner of the medicinal and recreational cannabis production/processing company Re-Up Industries and the genetics/cultivation company House of Cultivar. Mr. Gaboury’s cannabis cultivation practice has provided intense hands-on experience with a range of genetics, methodologies, and facilitytypes, and has resulted in his development of specific technologies and proprietary protocols to maximize both the quality and yield of the cannabis cultivars under his care. This methodological expertise includes deep water culture, ebb & flood, nutrient film technique, living soil organic mediums, coco coir, soma beds, hydroponic containers, and aeroponics. In roles as both cannabis advisor and cultivation owner, he regularly converts vision into reality through architectural design skills of the highest class and over a decade of agricultural experience. Matt’s ability with the tools and the creative energies of design come from combining careers in architecture and horticulture: with degrees in structural engineering, industrial design, and a Master degree in Architecture, Matt has now spent more than 10 years building hands-on cannabis experience. His focus is particularly set on the design of industrial scale cutting-edge cultivation/processing operations that emphasis sustainability, and has designed over 75 large scale indoor production facilities, including his company's own 50,000 square foot operation in the heart of Seattle. In an effort to reduce the cannabis industry’s carbon footprint, Mr. Gaboury is a committed conservationist and innovator in pragmatic sustainability. He has previously worked for the University of South Florida School of Sustainability to help design a digital architecture that uses 70% less electricity than average. His innovative design and operational procedures have reduced the aggregate carbon footprint of cannabis production facilities across the United States by 2,027,500 watts, which equates to 15,111,480+ kW hours of electric usage per year. Mr. Gaboury won the World Architecture Community Award for an architectural curtain wall system that automatically follows the sun's path and adjusts the orientation of louvers to facilitate natural plant lighting & ventilation (patent pending), and is continuing to advance the technology of sustainability on a daily basis. Currently, Mr. Gaboury is the a board member and on several technical advisory committees for the Resource Innovation Institute, and continues to advance the science of sustainability. In addition to his execution work, Mr. Gaboury has also been actively involved in the regulatory process. He helped to draft the building regulations that Washington State has enacted to increase life safety standards for extraction and processing spaces (F-1 reclassification standards). Mr. Gaboury worked with local utility providers in WA, OR, MA, and NY to develop and implement the incentive and rebate programs available to growers who utilize energysaving equipment and processes. He was also instrumental in the drafting of the nation's first cannabis regulations pertaining to energy usage in Massachusetts, which mandates sustainability standards in cannabis production, and participated in multiple political subcommittees to help local policy makers understand and roll-out the new state laws. In this political outreach role, Mr. Gaboury is an active and leading member in the following professional organizations: Coalition for Cannabis Standards & Ethics, Washington Marijuana Association, National Cannabis Industry Association, American Institute of Architecture, Research Innovation Institute (Chair of the Board) and the Cannabis Alliance (Founding Member).

Michael Leavitt joined the Root Engineers team in 2014 and brought with him expertise in plumbing systems, hydronic systems and energy modeling. Michael is experienced in engineering and design in commercial, industrial and private industries within the cannabis space and currently specializes in cannabis and hemp extraction facilities. Michael has been actively engineering and designing cannabis and hemp projects since legalization in Oregon in 2014. He understands that each client has unique requirements for cultivation and extraction and uses his problem-solving skills to create personalized solutions for each client. He thrives on finding the best solution to meet each client's needs.
Michael earned his Bachelor of Science in Energy Systems Engineering from Oregon State University, and obtained his PE license in 2018.

Michael Wheeler is the Vice President of Policy Initiatives at Flow Kana, a branded cannabis supply chain distributor with a focus on creating a sustainable cannabis industry. There, Michael leads a team of policy professionals addressing all cannabis licensing and permitting, regulatory compliance, and advocacy regarding local, state and federal policy interests. Michael Wheeler joined Flow Kana in 2017, and brought more than 12 years of policy expertise in the clean energy sector. Since 2011, Michael Wheeler led one of the U.S.’s largest solar developer’s domestic legislative and regulatory affairs agenda at the state and federal level. Michael acted as a company spokesperson and has spoken about industry-wide issues at major industry conferences and has been featured on NPR, and in the Sacramento Bee, Greentech Media, and E&E News Wire. Prior to his time in the private sector, Michael worked for the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) leading Residential Energy Efficiency and was the Transmission Advisor to a former Commissioner. He previously held positions with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Michael received his Master’s Degree in Energy Policy from the University of Delaware.

Molly Graham is a Senior Program Manager with the Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (MEEA), a collaborative network advancing energy efficiency in the Midwest for sustainable economic development and environmental stewardship. Molly oversees MEEA’s commercial training and education programs and leads the newly launched Midwest Market Transformation Collaborative. Molly drives innovation and new business development for MEEA through research projects, pilot programs and writing grant proposals. Most recently, Molly has been focusing her time learning about indoor cannabis cultivation to provide local expertise to the 6 states in the Midwest with legal cannabis markets. Molly holds a B.S. in Earth, Society, and the Environment from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Neall Digert, Ph.D., MIES, Vice President of Solatube International, Inc., has over thirty-five years of consulting and education experience working in the energy/lighting/daylighting design and research fields, specializing in the design and application of advanced lighting and daylighting systems for commercial building applications. He possesses a unique technical background in optical daylighting systems, architectural daylighting solutions, and advanced energy and lighting strategies. As Solatube’s Vice President, Dr. Digert draws upon his expertise in the design and consulting arenas to build public awareness of new optical daylighting technologies, guide future product developments and refinements, develop new global sales and marketing strategies, and pioneer new design and application tools and protocols to support the successful integration of optical daylighting products into today’s commercial, educational, and industrial buildings. Dr. Digert’s technical background encompasses illumination engineering, building energy engineering, and the psychology of perception relative to luminous environments. Dr. Digert holds a Bachelor of Science degree in architectural engineering, a Master of Science degree in building energy/civil engineering, and a Doctorate in building energy/civil engineering, all earned at the University of Colorado.

Co-founder and currently the Vice President of Lighting Research for BIOS Lighting, Neil started his career at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center where he served a number of roles supporting the bioregenerative life support systems research program. With the Kennedy Space Center, 20 years of active research involving several aspects of photobiology, plant physiology, and controlled environment horticulture were applied to human life support for long-duration space missions. This biological approach required a plant-based life support system where agronomic and horticultural crops were used for food production, oxygen generation, CO2 removal, and water purification for the space-based crew. A major focus of this research was directed at evaluating lighting technology, specifically electrical efficiency and spectral effects since power was a major cost driver for the biological life support system. The work on spectral quality research immediately led to using LED solutions to replace inefficient and energy intensive sources for plant lighting (HPS, MH). Many of the peer-reviewed publications generated from the NASA LED lighting research team serve as the foundation for which LED technology is supporting the development in this industry. His experience with the controlled environment plant research side of integrating LED technology puts him in a unique position of both understanding the lighting requirements (spectral and intensity), as well as optimizing the manufacturing and performance requirements for LED product development. Neil currently holds ten patents. He actively supports BIOS’ agency and distribution network with product specific applications, installation optimizations, and horticultural issues associated with the incorporation of LED technology in controlled environment agricultural facilities, including the legal marijuana sector. Neil is the author or co-author of 55 peer-reviewed scientific publications, six technical memoranda, and one book chapter.

Nick Collins, PE, is the Associate Director of ERS’s Maine office. He is a professional engineer and a nationally recognized expert on energy use and facility performance in cannabis and indoor agriculture. His areas of expertise include the monitoring and verification of energy efficiency projects and the analysis of energy efficiency and demand-limiting measures in residential, commercial, and industrial facilities. Nick has been on the delivery team implementing Efficiency Maine programs for the past 11 years. He has led numerous impact evaluations of utility and program administrator incentive programs in the residential, commercial, and industrial sectors including the last three consecutive NYSERDA Industrial Process and Efficiency (IPE) gross impact evaluations. For the past four years, Nick has applied his expertise to the indoor cannabis cultivation industry where he has toured dozens of facilities, performed scoping audits, detailed technical reviews, research, and ground-breaking measurement and verification activities on indoor facilities throughout the Northeast, Colorado, and California. Nick has been presenting these findings and training other professionals on the topic of energy use and efficiency in indoor cannabis cultivation at conferences across the country. He has published papers and presented with ACEEE, IEPEC, IEC, KEEA, NESEA, and EUCI. He is co-chair of the Resource Innovation Institute’s Data Technical Advisory Committee and is a member of the National Cannabis Industry Association Facility Design Committee. Before joining ERS, Nick worked in construction management as an engineer and manager on projects including Gillette Stadium, Terminal A at Logan Airport, and the Walker Art Building renovation and expansion at Bowdoin College. He received his BS in mechanical engineering from the University of Maine.

Paul Sellew has founded, managed and grown successful companies in the food & agriculture, lawn & garden, renewable energy and organics recycling industries. Currently he is the Founder and CEO of Little Leaf Farms a state-of-the-art greenhouse producer of baby greens that are grown and packaged at its Devens, MA location and sold into over 1000 grocery stores and fine dining establishments throughout the Northeast. Prior to this he founded and was CEO of Harvest Power. He also founded and was CEO of Backyard Farms a year-round greenhouse producer of tomatoes on the east coast and oversaw the development of its 42-acre tomato greenhouse. Paul has also been an executive with Synagro, Inc. and was the Founder and CEO of Earthgro, Inc., a large-scale producer of compost-based lawn and garden products prior to selling to the Scotts Company. Paul is a graduate of Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS). Paul has served on Cornell’s University Council, CALS Dean’s Advisory Council, Cornell’s Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future and the Board of the US Composting Council.

Robbie Batts is a passionate engineer with over a decade of experience designing, selling and commissioning Trane HVAC and process systems in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. Recognizing that there is a knowledge gap around fully understanding plant transpiration rates and how they impact controlled environments, he founded InSpire to focus on Advanced Transpiration Solutions. InSpire’s purpose-built systems for agriculture allow for precise environmental control throughout the growing cycle and into dry/cure and process manufacturing. The benefits derived from InSpire's systems expertise include maximizing biomass, optimizing terpenes and cannabinoids, reducing operating costs, extending equipment life, and providing a significant reduction in risk correlated to crop failures. You can find InSpire online at www.InSpire.ag or on Instagram at inspire_transpiration. Robbie is an active member of the ASHRAE / ASABE X653 HVAC for Indoor Growers Standard Development Committee.

Rosemary Jojic is a Project Manager at D+R International, providing technical and implementation support to utility and energy efficiency organizations. Her portfolio includes commercial and residential lighting, evaluating emerging technologies, and specification development. Most recently, Rosemary supported the development of the DLC Horticultural Lighting Program and Qualified Products List (QPL). Before joining D+R, Rosemary worked at US DOT and US DOE in environmental management. Rosemary graduated from Syracuse University with a B.S. in Environmental Engineering. She holds LEED Green Associate, Fitwel Ambassador, and WELL AP certifications, and serves as the Illuminating Engineering Society - DC Chapter’s Emerging Professionals Chair and on the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers Young Professionals Board of Managers.

Sam Schatz, Managing Director + Global Head of Farm Development for AeroFarms, joined as the first employee after the company founders in 2012. The company has since grown to over 150 employees and operates the world’s largest vertical farm in Newark, NJ. Sam leads strategy and execution of the company’s expansion to new markets in addition to other strategic initiatives. Sam is an Advisor to the St. Louis based AgTech accelerator The Yield Lab and Founder and Managing Partner of Painter Hill Venture Partners, a New York-based Venture Capital firm. Previous experience includes Berlin based Wermuth Asset Management where he advised on investments into privately-held clean technology companies and London-based Active Earth Investments where he led investment into listed mining and mid-cap industrial companies with a focus on environmental stewardship and socially responsible business practices. Sam is a recipient of the Alfa Fellowship and received his Masters from the London School of Economics where he was the President and Founder of the Graduate Management Society and his Bachelor of Arts from Columbia University where he served on the Student Advisory Board to the Columbia University Earth Institute

Sundarajan Mutialu is the Chief Technology Officer and Co-CEO of AZENTIVE, a wellness and sustainability company supporting the profitable delivery of the purest, organic food and medicine. AZENTIVE’s flagship lighting technology, The Sun On- Demand™, produces true sunlight and empowers cultivation of sungrown quality organic croips in any controlled environment. Sundarajan specializes in advanced materials, plasma physics, materials processing, and surface modification. He is passionate about producing the highest quality, nutritious food for the holistic health and wellness of people, communities, and our shared planet. AZENTIVE’s approach to achieving this is to honor the plant first, and then to apply biomimicry to wrap sustainable technology solutions into controlled environment cultivation.

Dr. Ted Grantham is a Cooperative Extension Specialist and Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management at UC Berkeley. He is an eco-hydrologist interested in the impacts of agriculture on freshwater ecosystems. His extension activities are focused on the translation of research into sustainable, cost-effective solutions for managing water and the environment. Ted is the co-director of the Cannabis Research Center at UC Berkeley and the CalTrout Ecosystem Fellow with the Water Policy Center of the Public Policy Institute of California. He has a B.S. in Biological Sciences from Stanford University and a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley’s Department of Science, Policy and Management.

Thao is an electrical engineer in the Efficiency division’s Building Standards Office. She has been involved with the development of the energy code for the past three code cycles including work with compliance software and energy standards development. She is currently leading for the Controlled Environment Horticulture measure for the 2022 Energy Code update, focusing on the energy efficiency of indoor agricultural buildings. She is also a subject matter on other lighting measures. Thao holds a MS in both electrical engineering and mathematics.

Over 20 years of business development globally. A certified energy procurement/ sustainability/efficiency expert within multiple verticals including Pharmaceutical, Horticulture and Food and Beverage. Currently with Schneider Electric the global leader for energy and automation systems with over 170,000 employees. Travis is leading a global team in the development of highly regulated indoor growing facilities in North America, Europe, Africa and Australia. The focus of each of these facilities is to ensure the operations is the most effective and efficient possible by connecting all systems (energy, buildings management systems, IT, security and access, horticulture monitoring) so that the owner can make real-time data driven decisions.