Scott Lowman, a native of Southside Virginia, earned his graduate degrees from the College of William and Mary and Virginia Tech. Over the past 9 years, Dr. Lowman's work at the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research has been aimed at improving agricultural productivity and sustainability through research and education. His research is focused in two primary areas; biotechnology and advanced imaging. In the area of biotechnology, Dr. Lowman seeks to identify promising natural microbial bio-stimulant and bio-control agents to increase plant growth and health while protecting the environment. In the area of advanced imaging, Dr. Lowman is using the latest technology in unmanned aerial vehicles, multispectral and thermal imaging, and robotics to improve plant productivity. As an author, Dr. Lowman's research has generated 9 publications in peer reviewed journals and a book chapter. Before returning to earn his Ph.D., Dr. Lowman spent 8 years as an entrepreneur and businessman in both the pharmaceutical industry and co-founding Lynchburg Grows, a seven acre non-profit urban farm in Lynchburg Virginia focused on providing a space for individuals with special needs to learn job skills while growing produce. The organization has been featured in two books, numerous publications, and on CNN. Now in its 15th year of operation, Lynchburg Grows continues to provide unique services through urban agriculture, including feeding more than 100 families per week in their community supported agriculture (CSA) program, donating gleaned food to area food banks, employing 12 individuals with special needs, and purchasing vegetables from area farmers. In recognition of his work, Dr. Lowman was named a 2017 Outstanding Recent Graduate Alumnus at Virginia Tech and was given the Commonwealth Environmental Leadership Award from the Waldorf Foundation. In his roles at Lynchburg Grows and the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research, Dr. Lowman has been awarded 12 grants totaling more than 1.3 million dollars.

Matt Bailey co-leads VentureSouth in the Piedmont Triad of North Carolina. He is an experienced executive, entrepreneur and investor based in Greensboro. He most recently served on the board of FarmShots, a portfolio company of VentureSouth and the Piedmont Angel Network which was acquired by Syngenta last year. He previously acquired and operated distressed manufacturing companies for a private investor, and prior to that held several executive positions at MRC Global and was a management consultant with the Boston Consulting Group. He's married to a tax lawyer, has two teenage kids and is an accomplished wine drinker. BA Economics, UNC Chapel Hill; MBA Duke University.

Dr. Emily Britton is the Natural Products and Food Specialist for Waters Corporation. Before joining Waters, she was at The University of North Carolina Greensboro where she earned her PhD in Medicinal Biochemistry, which focused on the study of medicinal plants that cure disease by synergistic means. She has a passion for botanical medicine, dietary supplements and food authenticity.

Dr. Faith Hays graduated from the University of Maryland with her degree in Biochemistry from the lab of Dr. Catherine Fenselau. Her background is in proteomic of cancer and biomarker research. During her post-doctoral position at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, she worked on the National Cancer Institutes’ five year Cancer Proteomic Technology Assessment Team (CPTAC) initiative. She is currently an LCMS Sales Specialist at Shimadzu Scientific Instruments.

Dr. Melton serves as the Deputy Director and State Program leader for Agriculture and Natural Resources and Community Development for NC State Extension. He is also the Chair of the NC Industrial Hemp Commission. His other roles have included being Interim Department Head of the Crop Science Department, Assistant Director of Extension, Director of the NSF Center for Integrated Pest Management, Department Extension Leader of the Plant Pathology Department at NC State and at the University of Illinois, Philip Morris Professor of Plant Pathology, and Sabbatic Fellow at RTI’s Center for Strategic Initiatives. He previously served on the staff and faculty of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as an extension nematologist and plant pathologist. He holds a B.S. in Botany and M.Ag in Integrated Pest Management from NC State, and a Ph.D. in Plant Pathology from the University of Illinois.

Clifton Parker was born and raised in a small farming community in Coastal North Carolina. Clifton was raised on farm that produced hogs, cattle, chickens, corn, soybeans, tobacco and many vegetable crops. Tobacco was the cash crop but since their farms were near the coast they also relied heavily on sales of vegetables to tourist in the summer months. Clifton graduated from NC State University with a degree in Food Science. Clifton began his 30 plus year career with USDA in 1977. Clifton held many positions with USDA Risk Management Agency including, Compliance Investigator, Assistant Director of Compliance in Washington, DC, National Claims Services Director, Washington DC, Regional Underwriting Director, Raleigh Region (North Carolina to Maine), and Assistant Deputy Administrator, Washington, DC. Since retirement in 2007 Clifton has partnered with many groups nationwide to conduct risk management seminars, develop new crop insurance programs, train loss adjusters for Farm Service Agency and acts as a Crop Insurance Expert for the Federal Crop Insurance Board of Directors. Clifton currently lives on the beautiful island of Emerald Isle, North Carolina where he enjoys the beach and offshore fishing.

Guy Carpenter is the President of Bear Fiber Inc. in Wilmington, NC, the leading hemp supply chain management company for hemp fiber, yarn textiles and apparel manufacturing. He has over 30 years of experience on five continents in sourcing, apparel manufacturing, distribution and sales including a decade of strategic turnaround/crunch management consulting in the Fashion Industry. He has run large yarn-forward factories, developed successful brands in the US & Europe and worked with many global brands to develop textiles and apparel. His focus on textile quality evolved into a passion for natural fibers and sustainability. He also serves as a commissioner for the North Carolina Industrial Hemp Pilot Program.

Mr. Carpenter earned a BA from the College of Charleston and an MBA in International Business from the University of South Carolina. He has served as both a Peace Corps Volunteer (Niger, West Africa) and in the U.S. Army (Airborne/Air Assault Calvary Scout).

Matt along with Chase Werner started Triangle Hemp, which functions primarily as a large scale hemp nursery and produces greenhouse flower in the off-season.

Triangle Hemp’s passion is growing plants which started with our commercial greenhouse vegetable business six years ago. Matt's expertise consists of high-tech greenhouse production on a commercial scale focused on the consistency and reliability needed to fill year-round contracts. Other areas of expertise includes large-scale asexual propagation and organic integrated pest management.

Triangle Hemp’s goal is to be a resource for hemp farmers to help create a solid foundation so that any hemp grower can be successful. We have and are currently working with over 90 farmers spread out across NC, SC, VA and KY to provide field-ready starter plants with the best quality genetics available.

John W. Roulac is founder and CEO of RE Botanicals, the Pure Organic Hemp Apothecary brand. A longtime advocate for healthy people and ecosystems, John is also the founder and chief visionary officer of the organic superfoods brand Nutiva. He has sourced and formulated close to $1B in retail sales of organic superfoods in the past 20 years.

Governor Jerry Brown appointed John to serve on the California Department of Food & Ag’s Hemp Advisory Panel. John is champion for regenerative agriculture, organic hemp farming and healthy oceans. He helped jumpstart the modern home-composting movement in the early 1990s and successfully sued the US DEA in a historic 2004 federal court victory to keep hemp foods legal. John has authored four books on hemp and composting, with combined sales of more than one million copies. He has founded four nonprofit ecological groups, including GMOInside.org

Franny is an inspiring farmer that rocks the hemp scene in North Carolina. She is the first female farmer in North Carolina to plant hemp and has entered the hemp scene with a force behind education and collaboration with growers, processors, product development and Women in Hemp non-profit. She has degrees and work experience in Forestry and Education and worked in the pharmaceutical industry for over a decade. She has been in Asheville since 1999. Along with husband Jeff and son Zach, friends and family, they built their family farm in winter of 2012. It now serves as an agritourism hub welcoming visitors from all over the world to stay over in one of their many lodging options, celebrate a farm wedding and do yoga with goats.

Farmer Franny is on a mission share her hemp knowledge and is paving the way for farmers in her state and beyond. Look for her TedX talk, listen and learn about the obstacles she faced growing a crop that is federally illegal and how it's turning into a positive movement for "Women in Hemp", hemp growers, artisans processors and businesses with aligned "farmer focused" values. Franny and husband Jeff have opened multiple CBD Dispensaries, called Franny's Farmacy. They are taking their hemp from plant to processing to product offering tinctures, topicals, smokeables, vap hardware, edibles, pet line and more.

Anni Self was born and raised in a small farming community in southwestern Ohio. Anni studied botany at Miami University and received her B.S. in Plant Science from Tennessee Technological University. She later earned her M.S. in Plant Pathology from the University of Tennessee. Anni has worked in and around the horticulture industry her entire career and has been employed with the Tennessee Department of Agriculture for the past 31 years. At the Department, Anni has served as nematologist, horticultural marketing specialist, and plant pathologist. She currently serves as the plant certification administrator, and is responsible for all plant regulatory programs including industrial hemp and apiary.

Anni and her husband live on a farm just west of Nashville, and raise beef cattle, pigs and meat goats.

Nolan is a business litigation attorney at Frost Brown Todd LLC, where he also practices with the industrial hemp service team. As part of his practice, Nolan advises hemp clients on myriad issues, including risk mitigation under federal, state, and local laws and regulations. He has analyzed hemp-related business activities, including import and export, under the laws of all fifty states and U.S. federal territories. Nolan has also successfully defended hemp clients before regulatory and law enforcement officials and conducted trainings on legally marketing and selling hemp-derived products, including CBD oil. Nolan’s firm is also General Counsel to the U.S. Roundtable. With critical work experience at all levels of government, Nolan has navigated the interplay between federal and state hemp laws and policies. Additionally, among other written works, Nolan co-authored a comprehensive legal survey of hemp law for the Journal of Animal and Environmental Law of the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law.

In 2014, Carla Boyd founded Hemp Way Foods, a hemp-based food production company, and is currently the owner and operations manager. She has received several awards, including “Best Hemp Product/Facility” and “Best Colorado Hemp Food.” Hemp Way Foods has been featured in several regional publications, including the Denver Post and The Hemp Connoisseur Magazine, and Carla uses speaking opportunities to share about the history of hemp, its potential uses, hemp nutrition and sustainable food development. She is also a featured contributor to the “Vegfest Cookbook.”

Glenn Rodes is a farmer from Rockingham County in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. He is a partner in Riverhill Farms, and works with his parents, two brothers, and four nephews. They raise turkeys, operate a dairy, grow crops, feed beef cattle, and do custom harvesting.

Glenn has been active in growing, processing, and using alternative energy. He grows oilseed crops that are crushed for on-farm biodiesel production, and burns biomass including shelled corn, barley, wood chips, and poultry litter to help heat a turkey barn.

He is one of a few farmers that partnered with James Madison University on a hemp research project to explore growing hemp with existing farm equipment.

Dr. Lindsey D. Thiessen is an Assistant Professor and Extension Plant Pathology Specialist of Tobacco and Field Crops at North Carolina State University. She has had training in plant pathology from Texas Tech University on diseases of field crops in Lubbock and Oregon State University on epidemiology of grape foliar diseases in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. As a faculty member at NC State University, she has responsibilities for training NCSU extension faculty on field crop diseases, providing disease management recommendations to field crop producers, conducting on-farm and on-station research projects to determine best management practices for field crop diseases, and diagnose clinic samples for the Plant Disease and Insect Clinic.

Dr. Jim Taylor is a Board Certified Anesthesiologist that graduated from UNC Chapel Hill's Medical School. As president of Integrated Pain Solutions pain management clinics he co-founded in 2011, he and his staff have helped thousands of patients navigate chronic pain issues, and avoid opioid addiction. Through his experience treating patients with CBD, he founded Integrated Hemp Solutions to provide education and access to quality products. Dr. Taylor also founded Integrated Laboratory Solutions that is a reference and toxicology laboratory that performs urine drug screening for primary care and pain specialists. His laboratory has also been involved in the hemp industry by testing cannabinoid profiles for hemp farmers and is currently working with Integrated Hemp Solutions to develop formulated hemp products.

Having developed the original vision of reintroducing the Hemp Industry into North Carolina, Bob co-wrote the original statute design, founded the North Carolina Industrial Hemp Association and Founder's Hemp, a vertically integrated Hemp company.

A serial entrepreneur with experience in government, textiles, banking and law, he is 1974 graduate of Appalachian State University with honors and a 1980 graduate of Wake Forest University School of Law. Bob has been a licensed attorney for over 35 years. Bob also holds a North Carolina Real Estate Broker license and is a licensed single and multi-engine pilot.

During his professional career, Bob has been a County Manager and Attorney, an in-house Attorney for a Savings Bank, Director of Personnel Services for a 2,000 employee textile company and the founder of CrumleyRoberts, LLP. Starting the law firm in October of 1989, Bob grew it from him, a secretary and a $3,500 loan into North Carolina's largest consumer law firm with 16 offices and over 130 employees and successfully sold the firm in 2012. Bob recently helped lead the sale of a Vape Company he co-founded in 2013 to a Canadian publicly held company.

Bob has also founded and operates a multi-million dollar real estate development company with holdings in shopping centers, office buildings and development land, a music publishing company in Nashville, TN and has written two books. He is a featured keynote speaker around the nation for businesses, law schools and community leadership and trade groups on topics ranging personal and business development to "The Art and Power of Encouragement."

Bob was the Republican NC Attorney General candidate in the 2008 general election and is on the Advisory Board for the College of Business at Western Carolina University. Married for over 39 years, heis the father of two grown daughters, has one grandson, one granddaughter and loves to fly, fly fish, hunt and, most of all, build businesses!

Karen Neill is the Farm Manager at Pleasant Lane Farm. Prior to this position, Karen had a distinguished career of 31 years with the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service as a Horticulture Agent. During the last few years of her career with the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service she served as Guilford County Extension Director.

Karen presents weekly garden features on the Fox 8 morning show. (Tuesdays/Thursdays at 8am). Karen is a regular panelist on the UNC TV program “Almanac Gardener” which runs on Saturdays at 12 noon from April-August. She also writes a monthly gardening tips column for Carolina Gardener Magazine.

Karen serves on the Board of Greensboro Beautiful, Guilford Horticulture Societies and North Carolina Urban Forest Council. She was instrumental in starting the community garden movement in Guilford County.

Karen holds a B.S. in Horticulture from Clemson University and a M.S. in Plant & Soil Science from NC A&T University.

Bert James is an active crop consultant and farmer in Eastern NC. Homegrown Agriculture, established in 2001, has assisted over 100,000 acres of North Carolina production with fertility and crop management, specializing in technology and efficiency. In 2015, he served as president of the North Carolina Association of Crop Advisors.

Recently, the opportunity to manage the family farm in Martin, Halifax, and Pitt Counties has become a primary business interest. The production concepts involve integrating old methods with new farm practices such as regenerative row crop and livestock land management. Desiring new crops and a constant focus on localized markets led to a larger opportunity.

Bio Regen Co-op was formed in December 2016 to assist in bringing new crops forward that may be viable sources of income for local farmers. The first focus was on the opportunity in industrial hemp. Two years later, North Carolina looks to be a legitimate front-runner in bringing this ancient plant back to production. This would not have been possible without the financial support of the Co-op members and efforts from founders and board members, past and present. We have much to learn and are excited about the possibilities new crops and industry brings.

Eric Steenstra is a hemp industry pioneer beginning as a co-founder and CEO of hemp clothing and lifestyle brand Ecolution in 1993. Steenstra was a founding member of the Hemp Industries Association (HIA) and served as its Executive Director from 2007 through 2016. During that timehe grew HIA membership by more than 300%. Steenstra now serves as the president of Vote Hemp, the political advocacy organizationthat he cofounded in 2000.

Vote Hemp has been instrumental in getting pro-hemp legislation passed in 35 states. In 2005, Steenstra worked with Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) to get the first modern U.S. hemp legislation (H. 3037) introduced in Congress and in 2012 he worked with Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) to get hemp legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate. Vote Hemp’s outreach and education efforts made it possible to get 225 bi-partisan votes to pass the Polis amendment. Steenstra worked closely with Rep. Polis (D-CO) and Sen. McConnell (R-KY) to have breakthrough hemp legislation included in the 2014 Farm Bill that ultimately enabled the first legal hemp farming in over 50 years. Section 7606 of the Farm Bill resulted in 24,800 acres of hemp being planted across 19 states by 1450 licensed farmers and university researchers under state hemp pilot programs in 2017.

Tara received her Bachelor of Science in Organismal Biology and Ecology at Kutztown University and a Master of Science in Biology with a concentration in Botany from Bucknell University. Tara began working at the Rodale Institute in 2016 as a Senior Research Technician where she is responsible for managing data collection and training support staff for all of the Institute's research studies.

Tara is key personnel on Rodale Institute's Industrial Hemp Research Study under the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture's Industrial Hemp Research Pilot Program. Tara is responsible for managing staff and overseeing all aspects of data collection, data management, sample processing, and will assist with data analysis, reporting, and print and media publications. Rodale's research aims to provide farmers that are interested in growing hemp with research-based information on growth performance, weed and nutrient management, and how to integrate hemp into their crop rotation as a dual weed suppression cover crop and cash crop while following their regenerative organic standard.

Michael Long is the founder and CEO of Renaissance Fiber, LLC, and industrial hemp mill for textiles. He is also a partner in Long & Hamilton Research Development & Licensing, LLC focusing on development and commercialization of hemp-based materials. He is originally from North Carolina and was formerly an atmospheric/ocean chemist before seeing the light.

Mike Sanders has a diverse entrepreneurial background and has been part of over a dozen successful startups over the past 20+ years. Mike’s current focus is on the manufacturing of high value molecules from plants for food, nutraceutical, and pharmaceutical applications.

Will pursued his vision for building brands in highly competitive markets and launched Evolve, Inc. in 2002. Today Evolve provides marketing strategy and advertising services to more than 100 different businesses throughout the US and Canada. Will graduated with a BS in marketing and an MBA from Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia. Serving in leadership roles in international marketing management and brand development in established and emerging markets for the last 20 years, Will has expanded his entrepreneurial endeavors and is an owner of Sana Botanicals. He is also directly involved in marketing strategy for such organizations as The Hemp Farmacy, and pioneered the market launch for Kingdom Harvest in Asheville NC. Will donates his time and company resources to the NCIHA, and manages a private fund to invest in hemp grows that educate farmers and businesses on sustainable production and business operations.

Dr. Angela R. Post is a North Carolina native. She completed her undergraduate and Masters Degrees at North Carolina State and her Ph.D. at Virginia Tech. She served three years as the Small Grains Weed Scientist at Oklahoma State University before coming back to NC as an Assistant Professor and Small Grains Extension Specialist in the Crop & Soil Sciences department at North Carolina State University. Her extension responsibilities include working with North Carolina growers in winter grain production grain sorghum and industrial hemp. Follow her @NCHemptalk or email her at: angela_post@ncsu.edu.

Raised in rural North Carolina, Brad spent his childhood with nature and farming. After serving in the military then college, he has spent over a decade focusing on small scale agriculture. From aqua/hydroponics to outdoor production methods, his focus has been on small farmer success. Brad brings this passion to AgGrist, a farmer focused company who works with hemp farmers to increase profitability through value added processing and support.

Tai Olson is the Director of Operations at US Heritage Group, a leader in hemp-based construction products and systems and the first company to build a Hempcrete house in North America. US Heritage Group specializes in cast-on-site Hempcrete and pre-fabricated structural hemp panels. Tai has worked to develop the Hemp Building market and overseen the design and construction of projects throughout the US. He has a BS in Civil Engineering from the University of Virginia, and a Master of Engineering Management from Northwestern University with a specialization in Product Development.

Bryan Berger is an His research is focused on designing green, sustainable and bioinspired technologies for applications in diverse areas such as biomanufacturing of advanced functional nanomaterials, biodegradable alternatives to synthetic detergents, microbial decontamination of agricultural products and industrial hemp processing to products. Research in the Berger group is support by grants from the NSF, NIH and industrial research groups, has been featured in the New York Times, and has been recognized with a 2015 NSF CAREER award.

Bryan is the co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Lytos Technologies, whose mission is to develop green, broad spectrum biofungicides for pre- and post-harvest protection of high-value crops. Bryan is also co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Fiacre Enterprises, whose mission is to develop new, enabling technologies for hemp-based materials and products.

A graduate of Rutgers University, College of Agriculture & Environmental Sciences (B.S., with High Honors), Dr. Timko went on to earn his PhD from Rutgers University in Botany in 1980. He subsequently held postdoctoral appointments at Brandeis University and Rockefeller University, where he was involved in some of the earliest studies on gene expression control in plants, including seminal research on gene transfer technologies and intracellular targeting now widely utilized in the production of transgenic plants grown worldwide. Dr. Timko is currently the Director of the Human Biology Distinguished Major Program which focuses on bioethics, health policy, and social impacts of scientific advancement, and the former Director of the Echols Scholars Program. Dr. Timko also has received multiple international appointments including being named Guangbiao Professor at Zhejiang University and Visiting Professor at Southwest University and Tsongou (Qinghai) University Tibetan Medical College.

At UVA, Dr. Timko currently directs an internationally recognized research program focusing on the use of biochemistry, molecular genetics and functional genomics for the improvement of grain legume crops for sub-Saharan Africa and the development of novel plant and microbial based strategies for the production of human nutraceuticals and therapeutics. He has a longstanding interest in the use of natural products and traditional medicines in healthcare. He runs the UVA Industrial Hemp and Medical Cannabis research program aimed at the development and exploitation of novel germplasm for agricultural, industrial/manufacturing, and medical uses including the production of high value therapeutic cannabinoid and terpenoid extracts.

Over the past 30 years, Dr. Timko’s research has been supported by various national and international granting agencies and private foundations, including the NSF, NIH, USDA, Rockefeller Foundation and Kirkhouse Trust SCIO, and various corporate partners. Dr. Timko is a passionate advocate for education and international outreach and teaches basic and advanced undergraduate and graduate level courses in human biology, genetics and functional genomics as well as economic botany/plant biology. He has authored or co-authored over 150 research papers, book chapters, and review articles and is the holder of multiple US and world-wide patents in agricultural and nutritional biotechnology. In 2009 was a recipient of The Hartwell Foundation Individual Biomedical Research Award for his work on probiotic-based therapeutics and in 2015 was awarded the Jefferson Scholar Foundation Faculty Prize for his leadership, scholarship and citizenship.

Joell has over 20 years of food science experience within the industrial, regulatory and academic sectors.

She worked in the food industry in various production settings in the areas of quality assurance and research & development. She has worked on facility start – up teams for both USDA and FDA – inspected facilities. Her experiences include factory and equipment design, developing, implementing and maintaining quality and food safety programs and validating manufacturing processes.

Joell has also worked for the Food and Drug Administration as an investigator in the Roanoke, VA office.

She is currently the Director of the Food Innovations Program in the Department of Food Science and Technology at Virginia Tech. The Food Innovations Program goal is to provide the technical assistance needed for the food processing industry to produce high quality, safe, and innovative food products. One of the program’s main missions is to increase the awareness of Virginia’s food producers to matters of food safety, pertinent food regulations and general concerns associated with starting a food business.

As CEO and Co-Founder of Front Range Bio-sciences, Dr. Vaught strives to bring the best of modern agriculture to high-value crops to improve reliability, efficiency, and safety for farmers and consumers. Through its Clean StockTMnursery program, FRB uses tissue culture propagation to provide multi-level certification for disease-free, pesticide-free, and true-to-type cannabis and coffee clones.

Prior to founding FRB, Dr. Vaught served as the Director of Assay Development for Velocity Sciences, and Senior Scientist for Beacon Biotechnology and SomaLogic. He received his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from University of Colorado, Boulder.

With more than a decade of experience developing and commercializing technologies for human diagnostics and food safety, Dr. Vaught brings a diverse background with both a strong scientific and practical business acumen.

Brian Campbell is a Plant Breeder and Geneticist who combines traditional plant breeding methodology with molecular tools to create improved plant varieties. He holds graduate degrees in Plant Breeding and Functional and Evolutionary Genetics from Colorado State University, where he focused on understanding genetic architecture of quantitative traits. Brian currently works for Phylos Bioscience, developing tools and methods for breeding the next generation of cannabis plants.

Over the past 25 years Volker has held a number of leadership role sin Regulatory Science and Food Safety R & D in the agricultural solutions industry and more recently in environmental and life science laboratory service businesses. He has a wealth of international, operational, business development and technology - related experience, developing and growing science and technology solution - based companies, teams, and laboratories in the life sciences marketplace. Most recently, Volker and his Avazyme team have been a strong supporter and testing partner for the fast - emerging Industrial Hemp industry in North Carolina and the entire East Coast.

Volker began his career at BASFAG, in Germany where he held various R & D leadership and operating roles(some of the min the US) in the Agricultural Solutions Division and was a leader in innovation teams and mergers and acquisition swith subsequent integrations. He also played a pivotal role inseveral external international regulatory task forces(OECD) and industry associations (ECPA, CLA, CLI) in Europe and the US. He is now applying his extensive knowledge and network in agriculture, crop science, pesticides, natural products metabolism and xenobiotic metabolism, nutraceuticals / pharmaceuticals and regulatory science to the hemp industry and the entire Food Value Chain; From Farm - to - Fork and from Farm - to - Farmacy.

Prior to starting his own companies, Volker was President of Smithers Viscient, a mid - size contract research organization focused on global environmental testing and business development and operations a cross agrochemical, pharmaceutical, and chemical industries. Volker was responsible for Business Process Optimization, acquisition of companies in the US, Europe, and Japan, and the irsubsequent integration in the existing Smithers business.

In 2014 Volker founded Avazyme, Inc. a contract research solution provider, offering field and laboratory testing, product development, and expert consulting services to the agriculture and food industries. Avazyme’s comprehensive services include food safety analyses for contaminants, pathogens, allergens, food quality and nutrition analysis, genetictrait testing, product safety, FDA Menu Labeling, pesticidere sidues, mycotoxin analysis, specialized studies for regulatory submission data packages, and a full spectrum of testing for products a fety and product quality related to Industrial Hemp. Avazyme provides fast and reliable answers to ensure product safety and high product quality for consumable food, feed, cosmetics, nutraceutical and pharmaceutical products.

In 2015, Volker was also appointed Adjunct Professor by the Department of Chemistry, in the College of Science of North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC; Advisory Council Member at the North Carolina Biotechnology Center; and North Carolina AgBiotech Advisory Council Member. Volker holds a degree in Chemistry (Vordiplom) from University Hamburgin Germany, and a PH.D. in Chemistry from Rice University, Houston, Texas, studying the Bio synthesis of Antibiotics from Fermentation. He had a Post - Doc appointment at the University of Hawaii, working on marine and algalnatural products and the bio synthesis and novel structure elucidations of Cyano bacteria. Volker has also completed extensive Executive education at Harvard Business School.

When not in the office or traveling on business, Volker is teaching and mentoring students as an Adjunct Professor at NC State University, or roaming the great outdoors eithers kiing, kayaking or on foot with his dog soren joying wood working and designing and creating fine furniture.

John Lupien is the founder and operating manager of Bastcore LLC. He possesses an extraordinarily broad knowledge of bast crop science and processing technologies. Born out of his Master’s thesis based on information recovered through a Freedom of Information Act request, John’s understanding of the entrepreneurial efforts made during the Great Depression and World War II to use raw material derived from hemp provides Bastcore with an unparalleled database of knowledge pertaining to supply chains, processing technologies, material properties, and product development. Beyond providing a historical framework to view the present, John brings an extended and extensive network of industry contacts. This network was developed over fifteen years of practical experience working with bast fiber crops, projects and businesses. John developed two bast crop processing technology patents.

Dhruv has been in textile and apparel industry for 22 years. In his current role as Director- Materials Innovation at VF Corporation- Global Innovation Center, his primary focus is development of materials for Denim, workwear apparels, casual and other performance apparels. Before VF, he worked for a Technical Textiles company, Albany International Corp. At Albany International, he was leading Corporate R&D, Process and Material Technologies. He has versatile experience in research & development, product development, process development, process engineering and optimization, enterprise- wide quality, quality management, process excellence, "end-to-end" project ownership.

He has global experience in domains including new product development and innovation, materials development, polymers, additives, fibers and filament, woven and knitted fabrics, non-wovens, denim, composites, pultrusion, web processing, films and sheets, extrusion, technical textile, sustainability, recycling, industrial textile, reinforcement, composites, coatings, laminating, adhesives etc.

He has led global projects driving strategic innovations, transforming high performance product lines. He has experience in various industries includes - Fiber & Polymers, Textile, Fashion & Apparel, Denim, Technical &Industrial Textile, Paper, Aerospace and Consulting.

Erin Williams has been with the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) for over 10 years. She has served in a variety of roles, including Dispute Resolution Specialist and Policy and Planning Coordinator for the agency’s Division of Consumer Protection. She is currently a Policy Analyst in the agency’s Office of Policy, Planning, and Research and serves as the agency’s Regulatory Coordinator. Ms. Williams has coordinated VDACS’s work to oversee Virginia’s industrial hemp research since the enactment of the Virginia Industrial Hemp Law in 2015. Additionally, she oversees the agency’s Industrial Hemp Grower License program. Ms. Williams earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and a law degree from Quinnipiac University School of Law in Hamden, Connecticut.

Chad is an entrepreneur passionate about developing impact based businesses and brands with sustainable supply chains. As a recent graduate of the Village Capital Agricultural Accelerator, his network in the food system is far reaching at high levels in the private and public sectors. The White House invited Chad to represent Kentucky and Victory Hemp Foods at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Palo Alto, where we met with POTUS’s Entrepreneurial Ambassadors and 700 other entrepreneurs from 170 countries to work on solving for some of the world most pressing issues here at home and abroad, including food security. As the President for the Board of the Kentucky Hemp Industry Association and a Board Member for the Organic Association of Kentucky, he’s committed to bringing hemp into the rural economy where sustainable economic development is needed. To this end he moved from California in 2014 and has put down roots in Henry County, Kentucky, where he's learned how to hang tobacco and suffer sweet tea.

Eric Henry, president of TS Designs, started his business creating screen designs in 1978 while attending North Carolina State University. Two years later he merged his company with Tom Sineath to form TS Designs. Eric has been in the screen printing business for more than 30 years. Eric’s duties at TSD range from sales and R&D to marketing. He is the foremost public face of TSD, attending numerous trade shows, giving speeches to groups and universities and hosting tours of the TSD facility. His boundless enthusiasm and energy have gained him a certain level of notoriety at most of them, even winning him the Sustainability Champion Award from Sustainable North Carolina in 2009.

During a thirty-year business career, Jack has worked for two organizations; a Fortune 50 consumer financial services company and a mid-market e-commerce specialty retailer selling direct to domestic and international consumers. His responsibilities have included marketing, technology, finance, investment, and corporate governance. Jack is also the founder and owner of Applied Media LLC, which provides strategic web planning and governance services to organizational leaders, as well as management of select non-digital initiatives. Jack also serves on the board of trustees at Greensboro Day School and is a board member, Treasurer, and chair of the Investment Committee for the Tannenbaum-Sternberger Foundation. Jack is a seventh-generation North Carolinian, whose direct descendant, Needham Whitley, was a patriot soldier in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. Jack, along with his uncle, is the owner of a family farm in Wayne County, land which has been in the family since at least the early 1800s. Jack became interested industrial hemp while researching ways to keep the family farm viable, ultimately becoming part of a much bigger initiative which has the potential to transform agribusiness for thousands of farm owners and growers across the Southeast.

Dr. Riddle is the CEO of Sunstrand, the leading supplier of biomaterials for technical and industrial applications. Sunstrand currently operates the only industrial scale commercial hemp decortication facility in North America capable of producing technical grade fibers. Dr. Riddle is the former President of the KY Hemp Industries Association and a member of the Hemp Industry Roundtable. He started his career in engineering performing accelerated structural testing on wind turbine blades. Prior to Sunstrand, he founded Gradient Engineering, an engineering services firm focused on polymer composite applications. Dr. Riddle received his BS and PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Montana State University and Masters from Cornell University.

Rick Larson is Senior Vice President for Natural Capital Investment Fund (NCIF, www.ncifund.org),a Community Development Financial Institution that creates jobs and positive environmental impact across Central Appalachia and the Southeast by funding businesses that are good stewards of natural resources and communities. NCIF is the green business lending arm of The Conservation Fund, a national non-profit with a dual mission of land and water conservation and economic development.

Rick has worked with NCIF since 2007, when he opened the NC operations of NCIF. He oversees NCIF’s strategic initiatives that support energy efficiency, farmers of color and local food value chains, and he has lent to enterprises across a range of sectors: forest products; biomass and renewable energy; sustainable agriculture; and recycling.

Rick has over 25 years of experience in community development, business finance, and social ventures. He was Executive Director of REAL Enterprises, which trained teachers to help rural youth and adult entrepreneurs develop business plans and learn the entrepreneurial process. Before joining NCIF, he was a Managing Director with SJF Ventures, a mission-driven venture capital firm. He lives in Durham, NC.