Alex Brooks is an experienced capital markets professional, working in energy, resources, sustainability and materials for more than 20 years in a range of roles. He has spent much of the past two years building the Canaccord franchise in cannabis in Europe, where we have done three significant transactions (EMMAC, Brains Bioceuticals, and Bridge Farm) as well as presenting at numerous conferences and events. Canaccord is a multi-sector mid-market broker, and is the largest fundraiser for the cannabis industry worldwide.

Alexander has a PhD in clean chemistry from the University of Nottingham for his work with Professor Sir Martyn Poliakoff on supercritical fluids as a replacement for hazardous solvents. He then spent over 9 years in financial industry before starting Nova Extraction with his co-founder Sergey.

Nova Extraction sells off- and on-grid supercritical fluid extraction machinery. Their proprietary hardware offers unique possibility of on-site CO2 extraction of perishable material.

Charles Whitaker, a founder partner of Brown & Co and Managing Partner, has 30 years of experience providing management and consultancy services to farmers and landowners throughout the UK.

Charles specialises in larger businesses, changing business performance and complex family and business structures, and holds non-executive and executive roles on management and farming company boards.

Charles has extensive experience in land management, farming and farm business management in South America, the Caribbean and Eastern Europe having established client and Brown & Co businesses in a number of countries over the last 20 years.

Chloe is from North Warwickshire and has grown up surrounded by agriculture from a large farming family. Chloe has worked on an arable farm for many summers between school and university and still dabbles when required or when withdrawal symptoms kick in!

After graduating with an Agronomy degree from Newcastle in 2016, Chloe went on to do a technical adviser role for a fertiliser company, matching nutrition to field and tissue tests, formulating recommendations and learning how to achieve optimum results with precise inputs.

Moving into agricultural policy, Chloe started as the combinable crops adviser for the NFU in HQ at Stoneleigh and in this capacity has worked specifically with industrial hemp, driving the NFU’s position and lobbying to make the crop more accessible for UK farmers. It is absolutely vital that growers have access to as many options as possible to expand the rotation and diversify businesses in the current political and trading uncertainty.

Since joining Dragonfly Biosciences as Strategy Manager in 2018, Fergus Marshall has helped the company navigate the complex legal cannabis regulatory framework, supported Dragonfly CBD’s surging retail & e-commerce growth and managed its “seed to shelf” supply chain. Dragonfly Biosciences is one of Europe’s leading producers of CBD and Cannabis-derived extracts. It nurtures all its products from seed to shelf: growing Cannabis Sativa L. organically, using a unique extraction process and formulating under GMP conditions. Its range of Dragonfly CBD oil is available to buy at Boots, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Harrods & Amazon.

George McBride is a commercial barrister turned cannabis reform advocate and industry consultant. He co-founded Cannabis Europa, Hanway Associates and First Wednesdays. Hanway Associates is a strategic consultancy specialising in the cannabis sector which specialises in growth strategies, market access, product launches, operational excellence, business development and strategic partnerships in the nascent cannabis sector.

John is a Director of Sentry Ltd., having worked in the business for the last 22 years. He oversees the management of farms across East Anglia and Kent. He has been working on hemp for the last 18 months, gaining insight into understanding the challenges of licenses, growing, harvesting, drying and marketing the crop.

A veteran policy advisor and communication manager at European level, Lorenza has led EIHA’s efforts in Brussels since February 2019. She has worked with a number MEPs to propose hemp reforms to the Common Agriculture Policy in the European Union and other EU hemp related policies. Lorenza previously advised interests in the oil and gas sector, and led the European Association of Independent Winegrowers. She is a native of Italy and graduated from the University of Gorizia with a Master of Arts in European Affairs.

Robert Jappie is a Partner at Ince, specialising in Cannabis Law and Regulation. Since he launched the UK’s first dedicated Cannabis Law department in May 2018, Robert has become a leading and well-respected legal expert within Europe’s fast-growing cannabis industries. With the legalisation of medicinal cannabis and CBD supplements rolling out across Europe, Robert has become the leading legal authority on the developing regulatory environment both here in the UK and in Europe.

He currently acts for several established CBD brands, Licensed Producers, Medicinal Cannabis companies and distributors, advising on the full range of regulatory and commercial issues facing the sector.

Dr Rob Simmons is an applied soil scientist with more than 25 years’ experience of sustainable soil management founded on a robust understanding of the associated processes. Rob has an extensive research portfolio and has led multiple BBSRC, NERC, Innovate UK, Environment Agency, WRAP and AHDB funded projects over the last 10 years.

Robs current UK based research activities focus on applied solutions to control runoff and erosion across a range of horticultural crops, polymer-based options to promote seeding emergence and stand establishment and management options to improve stand longevity in asparagus. Rob has been interested in the potential soil health and rotational benefits of industrial hemp for several years and in 2020 organised a workshop hosted at Cranfield entitled ‘Optimising the multi-purpose outputs and benefits of Industrial Hemp’.

Robin has had a lifelong career in horticulture and agriculture after gaining a degree in horticulture at Wye College. Prior to joining Elsoms, Robin spent time with ADAS at both Stockbridge House and Kirton experimental stations being involved in field vegetable research before joining Elsoms as Trials and Brassica Crop Manager. Robin moved and joined Horticulture Research international (HRI), working at both Kirton and Wellesbourne before returning to Elsoms where he is now Deputy Chairman.

Tim is managing director of CBD-Intel, a business intelligence service providing professional, independent market analysis and regulatory tracking for the growing cannabidiol sectors in Europe and Internationally. He is also managing director of a sister publication, ECigIntelligence, which is a leading source of independent data for the e-cigarette and vaping sector globally, providing unbiased information to numerous leading international companies together with government regulators such as the FDA and the UK government.

Tim is a UK-qualified attorney, having worked at the European Commission, Herbert Smith, BSkyB, AOL Europe, and as director of public affairs at Betfair as it went through its £1.5bn IPO in 2010. He was also a partner in a New York venture capital-funded startup in the diamond sector. Tim qualified as a lawyer at the College of Law, London, and holds an MA in Geology from Oxford University.

Xan is CEO and Co-founder of Equinox International, a Land-to-Brand British cannabis company. Equinox are developing several cultivation and production projects across the UK, Europe and internationally, as well as two British Champion brands: OXON, the Oxford medical cannabis brand and Mr NICE, the quintessential lifestyle cannabis brand.

Xan spent 11 years as a founding member of Bluewater Bio, an international water and wastewater company. Xan’s family business, Morgan Motor Company, have been manufacturing hand built British sports cars for more than 110 years.