Mike Kennedy is a Co-founder and Head of Product & Strategy at Green Check Verified, a technology-enabled solution for banking the cannabis industry. Mike’s background is in helping community financial institutions leverage technology to better manage their compliance and risk functions, and he has helped hundreds of institutions develop and implement bespoke compliance programs. Prior to co-founding Green Check, Mike helped scale Continuity, the first SaaS-based compliance management system for community financial institutions. Having worked with FIs across the country, Mike deeply understands the cost and complexities involved with maintaining compliance. This experience drives Mike and his team’s mission of helping FIs reduce their regulatory burden and build competitive advantages by tapping into new markets.

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Ryan Canin, CEO, DocFox
Ryan is the CEO of DocFox, a digital tool which enables rapid account opening, customer onboarding and automated complex workflows for business and commercial banking.

DocFox currently works with over 200 financial institutions to reduce manual effort through advanced document processing with document inspection, data capture and comparison of any document and a suite of automation tools.

Banks and credit unions use DocFox to enable remote account opening for business banking, bank across state lines with comfort, bank high-risk industries like cannabis banking or streamline business lending and back-office processes to completely transform the client experience and reduce costs and losses due to manual activities.

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Bill Richmond, Chief, USDA Hemp Program
Bill leads the team responsible for the establishment and implementation of the U.S. domestic hemp production program. The USDA program oversees State and Tribal Government hemp regulations, rulemaking, intergovernmental affairs and stakeholder outreach. He has been in Federal service, all with USDA, for over 20 years. In other roles, he was the acting director of the team responsible for establishing new labeling rules for genetically modified foods in the U.S., served as the chief of staff of USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service under the Obama and Trump administrations, and led USDA’s Colorado dairy field office. Richmond studied agricultural economics at the University of Maryland, and holds professional certificates from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and the Brookings Institution.

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Lisa Pittman, Partner, Zuber Lawler LLP
Lisa Pittman focuses on litigation and regulatory compliance. Throughout Ms. Pittman’s 20-year career, she has litigated and tried disputes relating to labor & employment, breach of contract, commercial banking, fraud, fiduciary duty, construction defect and injury, deceptive trade practices, premises liability, professional liability, and products liability. She also possesses extensive expertise in complex commercial insurance coverage matters, having both defended insurance companies and advocated for policyholders in commercial property, residential property, and life insurance matters.

Ms. Pittman is a pioneering figure in the emerging legalized hemp/cannabis industry in Texas. Ms. Pittman is an appointee to the Texas Department of Agriculture’s Industrial Hemp Advisory Council. She is also a non-resident fellow of the Drug Policy Program at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. Ms. Pittman presented the American Bar Association’s first marijuana law CLE at its annual meeting in New York City in 2017, resulting in the creation of the American Bar Association’s Task Force on Cannabis Law and Policy, and she is the Chair of the American Bar Association’s Cannabis Law & Policy Committee for 2021-2022.

From her participation in the nascent cannabis industry, Ms. Pittman has represented a broad range of clients from investors to ancillary service and product providers to “plant-touching” companies — farmers, processors, manufacturers, laboratories, distributors, and retailers. Some of these clients have now expanded into other countries. In pursuit of becoming an authority in this area, she understands the many challenges facing marijuana and hemp businesses, such as tax, banking, insurance, and regulatory compliance issues, and she has grown a vast network of experts to assist in these areas. Ms. Pittman keeps abreast of the constantly evolving laws, news, and deals occurring in the cannabis industry internationally on a daily basis.

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Scheril Murray Powell, Esq., Agricultural, Cannabis, and Dietary Supplement Attorney, Doumar, Allsworth, Laystrom, Voigt, Adair, and Dishowitz LLP
Scheril Murray Powell, Esq. is an Agricultural, Cannabis, and Dietary Supplement Attorney at Doumar, Allsworth, Laystrom, Voigt, Adair, and Dishowitz LLP. The Daily Business Review has named her one of the Top 12 Cannabis Attorneys in Florida. Her practice covers both the Marijuana and Hemp Industries, specializing in Cannabinoid legalization and UK Novel Foods registration. Scheril serves on the Board of one of the oldest Cannabis Advocacy Organizations, Patients Out of Time. She is the former Executive Director of the Black Farmers and Agriculturalists of Florida and former Director of Federal Affairs for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Scheril also serves as the Director of Business Development of Cannabiziac.com, an incubator, accelerator and co-working community catering solely to cannabis-related businesses. Scheril is on the Hemp Pilot Program Advisory Board for the University of Florida and serves on the Broward County, Florida Medical Marijuana Advisory Board. She is on the board for the Friends of Hemp and was a Founding Board Member for the U.S. Hemp Builders Association (not to be confused with the U.S. Hemp Building Association Foundation).

She is also President of consulting firm Green Sustainable Strong, LLC. In her spare time, she volunteers with the Winrock Foundation delivering Marketing training to Farmers in Ghana, Africa. In 2018, she was a recipient of the Crohns Foundation Blood, Sweat, and Tears Award, and the Cannabis Business Award’s Industry MVP Award. She is former In House Counsel for Sunflora/ Your CBD Store and former In House Counsel for Green Roads World. She is a graduate of Florida International University College of Law. As a Cannapreneur, Scheril is the President of Canna Headhunters, a staffing agency in the Cannabis Industry that connects Cannabis talent to opportunities. She has been selected to present at a number of Cannabis Conferences including the South East Cannabis Conference The Hemp and CBD Expo in the United Kingdom, The American Bar Association Cannabis Symposium: “From Regs to Riches”, the Women Grow Leadership Sumit, the Emerge Conference, the U.S. Cannabis Conference, South East Cannabis Conference, SHE-CANN, Cannaday, The University of the West Indies Caribbean Neuroscience Conference, Women Grow Leadership Summit, and more.

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Andrew Bigart, Partner, Venable LLP
Andrew Bigart helps banks, payments companies, and fintechs work together to develop cutting-edge financial services for consumers and businesses. Andrew’s broad experience in financial services, covering areas such as anti-money laundering and consumer protection, allows him to help banks, payment facilitators, digital wallets, small business lenders, and other financial services providers navigate the complex federal and state regulatory landscape. This extensive knowledge allows Andrew to assist his clients with various legal needs, including regulatory compliance, business planning, and transactions, regulatory examinations, and government investigations and enforcement defense.

With a client base that values speed and innovation, Andrew has developed a legal practice that focuses on meeting his clients’ needs by providing diverse, timely, and cost-efficient legal advice. Andrew advises numerous financial institutions that work with marijuana-related businesses, including on how to set up compliance programs to minimize risk consistent with federal guidance and other best practices.

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Michael Correia, Director of Government Relations, National Cannabis Industry Association
Michael Correia is director of government relations for the National Cannabis Industry Association. His focus is raising awareness and building support for the cannabis industry’s issues on Capitol Hill. In addition, Michael works with other national organizations to increase the cannabis industry profile nationally. Prior to joining NCIA, Michael spent many years working on Capitol Hill, including working for Rep. George Radanovich (R-CA), who retired in 2010, and the House Committee on Resources, serving three different Chairmen.

Previously, he was director of federal affairs for the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and senior project manager for the Committee for Responsible Federal Budget. In both positions, he advocated for policies in Congress. A campaign veteran, he has worked and volunteered on numerous political campaigns at the local, state, and federal levels over the past two decades. Michael is a graduate of the University of California, San Diego. A native of San Diego, he resides in Washington, D.C.

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Michael Bresnick, Chair, Financial Services Investigations and Enforcements Practice, Venable, LLP
Michael Bresnick is a partner in Venable LLP’s Washington, D.C., office, serving as Chair of the Financial Services Investigations and Enforcement Practice. He advises executives, directors, banks, payment processors, and other financial services companies in BSA/AML, securities fraud, consumer protection, and other civil and criminal investigations and enforcement actions by a variety of government agencies. He also served as the independent monitor for Deutsche Bank AG following the bank’s $7.2B settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice over the sale of residential mortgage-backed securities.

Mr. Bresnick previously served as Executive Director of President Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force within DOJ. In that role, he worked directly with the U.S. Attorney General and other leaders throughout federal and state government to lead the largest interagency coalition ever assembled to combat financial fraud. In total, Mr. Bresnick spent 10 years in DOJ (where he also served as a supervisor in the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania), leading 16 federal jury trials and representing the government before the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on numerous occasions.

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Janet Powell, Chief of Regulation and Supervision-Credit Unions, Oregon Department of Consumer & Business Services, Division of Financial Regulation

Janet Powell has worked for the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services, Division of Financial Regulation, since September 1992.

She is the Chief of Regulation and Supervision for the Credit Union Program, and she previously served as the Program’s supervising examiner since 2004 and manager since 2007.  Prior to that, she worked as a financial examiner and review examiner in the banking, trust, and credit union programs. Oregon has 20 state-chartered credit unions, with assets exceeding $26.7 billion, as of December 31, 2020.  Additionally, seven state-chartered credit unions from Washington and Idaho have locations in Oregon.

Previously, Miss Powell worked for St. Mary’s Academy in Portland, Oregon as the development director for one year and worked for The Oregon Bank in a number of capacities for nearly 25 years.  She has management, lending, operations, business development, and special project experience; she was a bank officer for 16 years.

Miss Powell is Vice Chair of the Board of the National Association of State Credit Union Supervisors (NASCUS) and is certified by NASCUS as a state credit union examination supervisor and by the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) as an examiner-in-charge. She attended Marylhurst College and has received various banking and regulator training.  She was born in Bend, Oregon and grew up in The Dalles, Oregon.

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Katrina A. Skinner, Partner, Burns Levinson

Katrina Skinner is an experienced attorney and subject matter expert in the financial services industry for banking legal cannabis-related businesses. As the former President and General Counsel for Safe Harbor Services, LLC, she learned the intricacies and practical applications of cannabis law in multiple states, federal and state regulations, and finance, and is often asked to speak about them.

With more than 15 years of experience in commercial lending, Aaron oversees the Specialized Lending Division of Northpoint Commercial Credit, LLC. Accomplished in commercial and industrial lending, he specializes in small to middle-market companies and has managed portfolios ranging from $300 million to $1 billion.

Prior to joining Northpoint, Aaron held several senior leadership roles at various financial institutions. He served as the Manager of Business Services for Firefly Credit Union, where he helped the credit union expand into commercial and industrial lending. Prior to Firefly, he was the Senior Vice President of Commercial Lending for Meridian Bank as well as Heritage Bank, both located in Arizona. Additionally, he has held lending and leadership positions for Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank.

Aaron holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Phoenix and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from the University of Minnesota Duluth.