Matthew Hawkins is the Founder and Managing Principal of Entourage Effect Capital, LLC (“EEC”), a private equity firm focused on investing in the legalized cannabis industry. Since 2014, the firm has invested out of two co-investment vehicles and special purpose entities with more than $160 million in assets under management. Prior to founding EEC, he was a Partner and President of a real estate investment company which acquired REO and NPL from banks and financial institutions across the country. Prior to this, Matt was a Principal/Co-founder of San Jacinto Partners, a fund focused on the bulk acquisition of single-family residential assets and the Managing General Partner of Adjacent Capital, L.P., a private equity/specialty lending fund. He was earlier affiliated with Treadstone Partners, L.L.C., a distressed debt and equity fund. Matt is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin.
Edward Schmults has more than 30 years of experience in global branded consumer products, omnichannel retail, product development, finance, operations, IT, and green and socially responsible businesses. He held CEO roles at FAO Schwarz and Wild Things Gear, and COO roles at Patagonia and Red Envelope, where product quality and customer experience drive the success of brands. In addition, Ed has strong operational experience, having set up and improved warehouse, logistics, and technology infrastructure at five different companies. Since 2018, Ed has utilized his extensive knowledge as the CEO of Calyx Peak Companies (“CPC”). In his role at CPC, he set the company vision and direction in multiple states. CPC oversaw licensed facilities for cannabis cultivation, manufacturing, and distribution in California; cultivation and manufacturing in Ohio; and cultivation in Nevada.
Ed has spoken at numerous cannabis investor conferences as well as at MJBizCon, the cannabis industry annual trade show. Ed began his career in investment banking at Goldman, Sachs & Company. Ed is also on the board of Vera Bradley and the Board of Advisors of First Insight, a predictive data analytics company. He is a former Vice Chairman of the Board of REI, the large national outdoor retail company. Ed holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in Economics and Political Science from Yale University.
J. Roy Pottle is a seasoned business executive with more than 35 years of experience in financing, acquiring and operating private and public companies. He is currently Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of American Messaging Services, LLC, a privately held wireless messaging company he co-founded in 2005 that provides critical messaging services throughout the United States.
From February 1998 to November 2004, Roy was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Arch Wireless, Inc., a large publicly traded wireless messaging company. From October 1994 to February 1998, he was Vice President and Treasurer of Jones Intercable, Inc., a publicly-traded cable television company. Prior to October 1994, he held a variety of senior positions in both Toronto and New York with the Bank of Nova Scotia, where he managed a $3.5 billion media and telecommunications portfolio.
Roy is also a senior advisor to Granite Point Capital Management, L.P., an SEC registered investment advisor that manages a family of research-driven long/short equity hedge funds, with approximately $450 million under management. Granite Point Capital was founded in 2004 and is based in Boston, MA.
He has served on the board of several public and private companies. Most recently, he was Chairman of the Board of Crosswinds Holdings, Inc., a publicly-traded asset management company, and currently serves on the board of LPF Holdco, Inc., a private California-based cannabis company. He holds both a Bachelor of Commerce and an MBA from Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec.
Jim Scott is an entrepreneur and investor with a unique blend of transaction, operating and leadership experience. Since 1998, he has been the Managing Partner of The Scott Company LLC, a Denver-based boutique advisory firm and merchant bank. Throughout his career, Jim has completed successful transactions for clients of all sizes. In 2018 and 2019, Jim invested in and led Receptra Naturals, one of the leading hemp and CBD product companies in the United States. As its President, CEO and Board Member, he oversaw the hypergrowth of that corporation, which experiencing a six-fold increase in revenue. Jim is also the Managing Partner of Littlehorn Investments, LLC, a Denver-based investment fund focused on investing in, or buying, lower market operating businesses.
Jim began his career in investment banking in 1992 with Salomon Brothers Inc. in its domestic mergers and acquisitions group. He also worked for SBC Warburg in London in its global chemicals investment banking and M&A groups. Jim graduated Summa Cum Laude from Boston University School of Management in finance and operations management.
Marc Ravner was a founding member of Loudpack, and was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at the time of its business combination with Harborside and Urbn Leaf. Marc began his professional career by transforming a legacy family parking business into a $100 million real estate portfolio by introducing innovative management and capital markets knowledge, and making prudent acquisitions. Following that, Marc joined the leadership team of Magnum Real Estate Group, one of the fastest growing residential real estate development and management companies in New York City. At Magnum, Marc managed numerous multimillion-dollar development projects. Marc holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Boston University and a Masters of Science in real estate development from New York University.
Felicia Snyder is an entrepreneur, corporate strategist, seasoned cannabis executive and brand builder. She is currently Founder and co-CEO of Arcana, an experiential hospitality brand. Ms. Snyder was a founding executive at Tokyo Smoke, one of Canada’s most recognized cannabis brands and a leading Canadian cannabis retailer, where she helped scale the business through its merger with Doja Cannabis and eventual sale to Canopy Growth Corporation. Post-acquisition, she was Vice President at Canopy Growth, managing Canopy’s portfolio of premium cannabis brands across all product categories. Prior to Tokyo Smoke, she worked for several years in South Korea with Samsung Electronics in its Global Strategy Group and Smart TV Services Group, where she oversaw a variety of projects related to business strategy, acquisitions, investments, partnerships, and development of new products and services. She was also a Senior Market Manager at Google and a Management Consultant at Oliver Wyman, a global consulting firm. She holds an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and earned her Bachelor of Commerce at McGill University, where she graduated with Great Distinction.