Advisory Board
WELCOME TO THE GLOBAL HEMP ASSOCIATION’S ADVISORY BOARD
Josh Nusenbaum
Josh is the founder and managing director of SeFF Fibre Ltd. He is well versed in every aspect of SeFF’s business and the hemp supply chain, from field to finished product. Josh is passionate about creating a sustainable textile revolution that is so sorely required, by industry in desperate need of drastic change.
From farms to mills, ground to consumer, SeFF hemp is capable of cutting out chemicals, driving up production possibilities, and boosting business. SeFF is cottonized hemp – completely natural – wispy-soft, silky-smooth. This is nature, at its finest.
Ahmed Shuja, PhD
Dr. Shuja posses an unusual mixture of deep scientific background and executive leadership necessary to develop the technology and business offerings for the fast-pace cannabis market. Previously at OGZ Holdings, Ahmed was responsible for consulting on the build-out of extraction facilities.
Over the past four years, he has been studying the best methods for scaling the Hemp and Cannabis chemical processing industry. Dr. Shuja was awarded a patent in 2018 about pulsed electric fields that can affect large-scale extraction and drying of hemp. This was an example of an innovation project that explores technology from the food processing industry.
Glen Donoghoe
Glen Donoghoe, a director of GeoSIP, has a master’s degree in entrepreneurial management with extensive experience in market research, venture development and business operations. He has worked in the environment and air conditioning industries as well as the NGO sector.
Glen’s previous work has resulted in successfully commercialising energy efficient products and managing commercial and community environmental programs that reduced CO2 emissions. He is committed to working on projects that provide benefits for individuals, the wider community and our environment. During his career his work has been recognised by all levels of Government in Australia.
Hana Gabrielova
Hana Gabrielová is a 20 year veteran in the hemp and cannabis industry. Her career spans the gamut of policy, NGO, and for-profit organizations. She has led advocacy and policy initiatives both in the EU and international cannabis policy. When she’s not on a plane or a stage you can find her at Biofarm Sasov in the beautiful rolling hills of the Czech countryside, where her seed-to-shelf company Hempoint is headquartered. Hempoint grows and processes organic hemp and distributes a variety of hemp food products. They also offer consulting and distribute hemp seeds for farmers around the world. Hana uses Hempoint as a vehicle for her policy work with various non-profit organizations including EIHA, IMCPC and FAAAT where she coauthor the book Cannabis and Sustainable development. Additionally, Hana is working on the development of global cannabis industry standards with ICCI and ASTM cannabis committee D37.
Ralf Kaiser
Ralf is a Director for Auka Capital Corp. Auka Capital partners with bright minds, unique business models and outstanding entrepreneurs who can strategically leverage the advantages of a public company structure. The team at Auka Capital have a focus on agtech and the industrial hemp sector. Prior to Auka Capital, Ralf was an executive at a leading cannabis banking compliance and payments firm in the US.
Ralf is recognized as an industry investment thought leader within the cannabis sector through his 30+ years in the investment industry. He has been active in capital raising, market development and strategic planning along with being a keynote speaker at numerous conferences for bank CEOs and payment professionals.
Greg Gerdeman
Dr. Greg Gerdeman is a neuroscientist, cannabinoid researcher, and educator with expertise in the physiological actions of cannabis and the endocannabinoid system (ECS), as well as many facets of cannabis cultivation, extraction, and medicinal use. His Ph.D. dissertation in Pharmacology from Vanderbilt University was one of the first studies to discover endocannabinoids acting as so-called “retrograde messengers” in the brain, which has become a foundation to the modern understanding of the ECS and the effects of cannabis. Greg has been a consultant to physicians, policymakers, and cannabis leaders since the early 2000s.
Since leaving academia to start one of the first vertically integrated cannabis companies in Florida (3 Boys Farm, now dba One Plant FL), Gerdeman has developed operational experience at every level of seed-to-sale supply chains and quality assurance within the cannabis and hemp industries. Additionally, he co-founded Weir Wellness, a newly licensed medical cannabis dispensary in West Virginia, and he is Chief Scientist of TN Farmaceuticals, a CBD oil brand. He has most recently become the founding President and CSO of NASHCX, a Nashville-based commodities exchange for the hemp industry.
Robert Hoban
Robert Hoban sits at the center of the world’s largest commercial cannabis industry network – hemp and marijuana; a cannabis industry ecosystem that he has cultivated since 2008. Mr. Hoban is an attorney, an entrepreneur, and an executive. Bob has earned a reputation as a cannabis industry dealmaker representing start-ups, entrepreneurs, governments, and companies in all stages of development. He is a visionary industry leader, who has founded, created, bought, and sold over fifteen of his own cannabis companies. He has served as a C-Suite executive in multiple companies, and as a director on a number of boards.
He is the Co-Founder of Gateway Proven Strategies, a leading global cannabis industry consulting firm. He constructed the Hoban Law Group to become the world’s leading full-service commercial cannabis industry law firm; the first of its kind’ The Hoban Law Group was acquired by Top 100 law firm, Clark Hill in July, 2021, and Mr. Hoban is the Leader of its international Cannabis Industry Team. And Bob served as a cannabis policy instructor at the University of Denver, where he lectured regarding cannabis regulation and policy. He has crafted cannabis policy solutions for over thirty different countries around the world.
Joseph Hickey Sr.
Joe Hickey’s long history in the hemp industry started in 1992 as the founder and Executive Director of the Kentucky Hemp Growers Cooperative. Joe and Woody Harrelson established Tierra Madre, LLC in 1994 to focus on identifying and funding innovative technologies supporting environmental sustainability.
Fueled by the idea “to know the law, you have to test the law”, Joe’s passion to leave the world a better place led him to challenging Kentucky’s hemp law by strategizing with friend and actor/environmental activist Woody Harrelson and planting of four hemp seeds in the hills of Kentucky. This action would propel the reintroduction of hemp into the agricultural landscape of the United States and solidify Joe’s role as a Hemp Pioneer. In 2019, after more than 27 years of lobbying and research efforts, Joe Hickey became a founding member of Halcyon Holdings, Inc. Hickey is still on the board of the Kentucky Hemp Research Foundation and the Kentucky Hemp Industries Association, continuing to push the hemp industry forward with a revered passion.
Bruce Michael Dietzen
Bruce is the founder of Carbon Negative Fiber and Renew Sports Cars and a former Acquisitions Manager and National Sales Manager at Dell Computer. His long-time love of car design and interest in ecology led him to follow in the footprints of one of his heroes, Henry Ford, creating a car made from Cannabis Hemp.
Klaas Eleveld
Klaas is the co-founder and CCO of FyberX Hemp Company. FyberX will deploy a network of hemp fiber processing facilities in the US and is currently on track to establish the first one in Virginia in H1 2023.
Klaas’ track record includes operational, commercial, and management successes in the global B2B industry including proprietary process (level) instrumentation, highly refined purity hydrocarbons, industrial textiles as well as technologies valorising organic residuals from a variety of diverse and large-scale industrial processes. He is also an ASTM D37.07 Hemp Fiber Initiative – participant. Currently based in Europe, Klaas is instrumental in developing FyberX’s future partnerships and liaises with FyberX’s partners both in and outside of the USA.
Caren Wilcox
Caren is an experienced executive in the public and private sectors in the U.S. Built a corporate department for a Fortune 200 company – reporting to the Chairman; developed new outreach component for a successful Presidential campaign; one of first appointees in new regulatory function for the U.S. government.
Specialties: Former deputy undersecretary for food safety, U.S. Department of Agriculture – regulatory oversight; senior advisor to leader in Congress; former senior business public affairs executive. Consultant in regulatory affairs, public health and food safety practices.
Chris Kinsel
Chris is part of the management team at US1 Logistics. US1 Logistics is committed to supporting the growth of the industrial hemp community. In his present capacity Chris works with the Brokerage and Transportation Services team at US1 to provide that support through a managed network of over 15,000 trucks who operate throughout North America.
Melissa Nelson
Melissa Nelson is the owner and field research scientist at Performance Crop Research, an independent crop research facility in Great Bend, Kansas. She works witha varietyof companies around the world collectingdata on crops grown in the Midwest with a focus on soil health, residues, and efficacy of new chemistries and varieties.
Melissa is also co-owner of South Bend Industrial Hemp. South Bend focuses on helping grow the hemp industry in Kansas. South Bend also grows dual purpose varieties and is working towards developing the grain and fiber industry. Their goal is to provide support for farmers and create grower’s groups to supply South Bend’s decortication facility. Education and being advocates for agricultureis a passion of Melissa’s.
Rusty Peterson
Rusty Peterson is the owner of Align Agro, and Co-Owner of Essen Atlas. Rusty is a leader, a team player, a businessman and some call him the farmer of hemp fiber, grain, and cannabinoids. His passion is identifying problems within the industrial hemp supply chain and fixing them with solutions that benefit the greater good. His background consists of an MBA and 14 plus years of experience in management, training, teaching, and business development across several industries.
Drew Kitt
In 2019 Drew began working with iHEMPx as Director of Business Development, distributing hemp genetics for cannabinoids, grain, and fiber. Drew has owned and operated a CBD retail dispensary, Two Moons CBD, located in Asheville, North Carolina since 2019. He is also a Brand Ambassador for Earthy Now, a cannabinoid products brand and national distributor.
Drew began his career in the hemp industry in 1996, he has an MBA with a concentration in Sustainability, is a Certified Ganjier, and is an Advisor for the Global Hemp Association. He has over 30 years of business experience in sales & marketing, business development, project management, global logistics, retail operations and sustainability consulting. Drew is focused on developing the industrial hemp supply chain, from manufacturer to processor to farmer to genetics. His goal is to reduce the impact of climate change by increasing to adoption of hemp-based materials.