California has a long history of pioneering industries. Many have compared the state to the early Roman Empire, where successful leaders took risks and carried out projects that were new, intriguing, and offered great rewards.
These leaders built big projects that aimed to gain lots of money and/or recognition. You can think of them as large-scale start-ups.
Some of these projects have turned out to be huge successes. For example, cryptocurrency is now one of the top investment categories on major cryptocurrency exchanges. Since it is not readily accessible to most people, it does not appear to be going away anytime soon.
Similarly, cannabis cultivation is becoming more and more popular as an industry as people learn how to do things correctly. The success of some grow operations has gained national attention, leading to more investors coming into the game.
Amanda Reiger
Amanda Reiger is one of California’s top cannabis pioneers. She made her mark as a business leader by developing new products and services to meet consumer needs.
Reiger is the founder and CEO of the cannabis gadget company, BQ Battleship. Her company has introduced several innovative products, such as the iBlrgh phone case, a bluetooth device that can be paired with multiple devices, including an app you can send to your phone.
The iBlrgh case helps prevent cannabis oil from turning dark and Diluted Brownie Mixes from clumping up.
Betty Aldworth
Betty Aldworth is one of the key founders of the cannabis industry in California. She pioneered the use of medical cannabis as treatment for veterans with PTSD.
Aldworth met with U.S. Veterans Affairs officials and presented them with a dataset showing veterans using medical cannabis to be more likely to remain calm and engaged when suffering from PTSD. This struck her as a promising finding and she continued to pursue it until it was successful.
She has spent years helping other people find relief from pain through medical cannabis, and she now runs a dispensary in San Diego called Green Path Physical Therapy. She also works as an advocate for veterans who are struggling with PTSD, running support groups at her dispensary.
Liz Lee
Liz Lee is one of California’s top cannabis experts. She started her career as a prosecutor, and later as a defense attorney, focused on cannabis crimes. She is now a private practice criminal attorney and medical marijuana expert.
As the founder of the Drug Policy Institute at San Diego State University, she works to develop policies around drug use and criminal justice. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, and others.
In 2008, she founded another successful law firm that specialized in medical marijuana cases. Today she runs her own practice out of Oakland where recreational cannabis has been legalized. She also writes about cannabis for various publications including this one.
These days Lee deals with patients who need advice about obtaining medical marijuana cards from their doctors.
Alex Rogers
Alex Rogers is one of the key figures in the cannabis industry. He founded Cannabis Management Group in 2003, and went on to run it until 2008. During this time, he helped establish several marijuana companies, including GreenWave Financial and Medi-Cann.”
He was also a co-founder of Harborside City Center, one of the largest marijuana stores in the world with over 200Shop! locations. He currently serves on the board of directors for both Harborside and Medi-Cann.”
While at Harvard Business School, Rogers studied business administration with a concentration in marketing. During his time there, he learned that half of business success can be found in creating memorable ads.
He decided to apply his lessons at Harvard to gain insight into the cannabis industry. His job is to create content that will influence consumers and raise awareness about marijuana.
Sally Vanderberg
Sally Vanderberg is widely considered to be the first prominent marijuana business leader in California. She founded both Harborside Financial School and the Harborside Management Company in 1997, shortly after she graduated from college.
At the time, she said she wanted to create a training program for executives in the marijuana industry. After her first class, her professor said he was sure he would never hire people who didn’t attend his course, as it was so advanced for a start-up company.
However, five years later and several successful companies later, the professor would say he was wrong — he now sees potential in each of them.
The school has recently added a cannabis sector specialization program which will give new graduates specific skills for working in the cannabis sector.
Jerred Hall
Jerred Hall is probably one of the most influential people in the cannabis industry. He started as a stockbroker, but after seeing the opportunity to be an independent cannabis business owner, he took a chance and became successful by opening a dispensary.
Today, he runs several large marijuana businesses under The Venetian Group. His first business was a wholesale distributor, which he sold off when he saw the opportunity to open his own dispensary.
The second company he ran was an investment firm, which eventually became his livelihood. As part of his company, he travels around North America working with companies on their cannabis plans. He says it is important for companies to have someone looking over their plan because if something does not happen, you could end up losing money.
Jason Huber
Jason Huber was the first person to plant a cannabis plant in California, in 1997. Since then, he has been a driving force in the cannabis industry, as an inventor, technologist, and agriculturalist.
As the founder and president of Huber & Associates Inc., a company that designs and develops technology solutions for commercial and residential cannabis applications. He is also the author of several patents relating to agricultural technologies in cannabis applications.
His most notable patent is called “Device For Watering Cannabis”. This patent describes a system where water is supplied via a sprinkler system or through an automated irrigation system. The device tracks how much water is being used and decides when more needs to be added.
This system would help ensure more plants receive enough water, which is critical for producing quality product.
Tiana Griffin
Tiana Griffin is one of the most influential people in the cannabis industry. She started her career as a social worker, helping people in need throughout her career. After she saw the value of cannabis, she decided to pursue a career in drug legislation and management.
Griffin became involved with the community drug program as a outreach worker, helping people who were ill or who did not understand why they needed medical marijuana. She went on to work as a medical marijuana prescriber and operator, providing medical marijuana to people who could not afford it from legal sources.
Her leadership has played a large role in shaping the industry as a whole, introducing new terminology and concepts for patients and doctors to use, creating regulatory frameworks for growers and sellers, and establishing governance models for communities that rely on cannabis for treatment.
