With over 5 years of alternative medicine investment experience, Ford has raised and deployed $10M+ into the emerging market. As an early investor and partner to Eaze, Ford has participated in the structuring and launch of one of the most robust delivery systems in the California plant medicine market. Ford lives in Austin, TX where he sits on the Texas Department of Agriculture’s Industrial Hemp Council. Ford is an advisor to Eaze, Momentum, Chroma, Telos, and Ag-Tech (NASDAQ: ASTC).

Trent’s specialty is standing up and launching successful businesses. As an operating exec, he combines strategy, team building and organizational design to drive clarity, alignment, and financial results. Trent leverages his knowledge of the traditional CPG playbook and experience in serving both general retail and the cannabis industry to lead Ultranative’s portfolio of brands. Trent started his career as a mechanical engineering graduate of UCLA. He quickly turned his product design and problem-solving skillset into business development, creative deal-making and management asset. Trent utilized strategic planning rigor and a hyper-focus on customer value to restore profitable growth, as demonstrated in a series of successful top-line turnarounds at Rehrig Pacific Company. This success naturally led Trent to his next entrepreneurial endeavor: solving the complex strategic and organizational problems of start-ups and struggling legacy companies. Trent founded VMG Consultants & Advisors, setting strategy to effect lasting cultural change and lift revenue trajectories for consumer products. Trent joined dosist as Chief Revenue Officer to launch the brand in the young and crowded CA California market, and then founded an innovative consumer marketing platform for the largest delivery retailer in California, Eaze. Most recently, Trent was recruited to lead 14th Round as CEO from a modestly seeded start-up in 2018 to profitable top-line growth and a $12.7M Series A raise at a $250M valuation within 2 years.

Blake comes from two decades of advertising and brand strategy with a focus on development of specialty initiatives in high value audience communities. He has created and built several influencer strategies and worked in entertainment channels by brokering endorsements, creating co-branded content campaigns and other types of non-traditional ad programs. He also specializes in go-to-market strategies for both consumer products and digital services/platforms and has an extensive resume of project types. Most recently, he was charged with commercial strategy at an internationally regarded venture-as-a-service technology and design studio called Josephmark. Prior to that, he has held leadership roles at Facebook and Saatchi & Saatchi, the AOR for Toyota. He was instrumental in the launch of the new Toyota Tacoma, Hybrid RAV4 and several campaigns for the TRD brand, Prius, Tundra, Supra, the hydrogen powered Mirai, and several other Toyota models. He also led creative development for the transformation of Myspace in 2010. Blake will be crucial in creating thoughtful and compelling brands, devising authentic opportunities for brand extensions and advertising, catalyzing a multi-rung community of brand evangelists and evaluating opportunities for focused engagements, retail representative training and more.

For the last 12 years, Thomas has been the owner of TL Capital Group. TLCG is a merchant bank, both investing its own capital as well as advising a select group of well known financial investors in venture capital, private equity and hedge funds. TLCG’s current focus is on direct investments into private companies, primarily focused on Seed and Series A, yet also will also consider from incubation through pre-IPO. Previous to TLCG, Thomas was a partner at Promethan Investment Group. Promethan had a $600MM multi-discipline hedge fund management group, with offices in NY and London.

Marcus Co-founded and is currently the Chairman of VETS: Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions. A pioneering non-profit organization, VETS is dedicated to providing resources, research, and advocacy to improve the quality of life of special operations combat veterans and end the suicide epidemic from those suffering from traumatic brain injury, and PTSD. At VETS, Marcus’ roles include legal oversight, fundraising, strategic partnerships, and advocacy work. He raised over $3,000,000 in private funding for over 400 veterans seeking Psychedelic assisted therapy, outside the U.S. where these treatments are legal. VETS co-sponsored SB 519 in California, a senate bill to decriminalize the use of psychedelics statewide in order to provide access for veterans and the greater population seeking healing through these alternative medicines. Marcus’s voice was critical to educate and persuade lawmakers that these medicines are the future of mental healthcare. VETS also backed Texas House Bill 1802, working with former Texas Governor Rick Perry and State Representative Alex Dominguez, which passed and is using state funds to conduct a study to examine the benefits of psychedelic therapies in addressing veteran mental health conditions. Marcus built partnerships with Stanford, Ohio State, and John Hopkins researchers for observational and retrospective studies on the use of Ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT, and their effects on the brain as they pertain to veterans suffering from TBI and PTSD. Prior to VETS Marcus co-founded several companies and helped launch a healthcare innovation fund as a Vice President at Fortress Investment Group in NY. Aside from VETS, his additional board position is with The Sedona Group, a consulting firm he co-founded focused on the supply chains for state and federal agencies. Marcus is an advisor to Energice and Qore Performance, two companies that focus on human performance optimization. Prior to work in the private sector, Marcus spent 13 years in the military as a Navy SEAL, deploying multiple times to both Afghanistan and Iraq, and spending the majority of his operational career assigned to SEAL Team 6, the nation's premier counter-terrorism unit. Marcus received a Master’s degree in Global Leadership from the University of San Diego School of Business, and his MBA from The University of Southern California Marshall Business School. As an undergrad, he was a scholarship athlete, playing Quarterback for Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, IL.

Natalie Lyla Ginsberg founded the Policy & Advocacy department at the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) and serves as the department’s director. She received her BA in history from Yale, and her master’s of social work (MSW) from Columbia. Before joining MAPS in 2014, Natalie served as a Policy Fellow at the Drug Policy Alliance, where she helped legalize medical cannabis in her home state of New York, and worked to end New York’s race-based marijuana arrests. At MAPS, Natalie works to disentangle science from political partisanship on Capitol Hill, at the United Nations, and beyond. She is also co-developing a psychedelic peace-building study, working to heal intergenerational trauma and conflict between Palestinians and Israelis.

Amber is a psychotherapist that brings over 10 years of health and wellness experience to her practice focused on the healing potential of non-ordinary states of consciousness. Drawing upon her graduate work in Integral and Transpersonal Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies, her facilitator training in Transformational Breathwork, and her personal exploration of plant medicines, Amber specializes in empowering individuals and groups in preparing for, navigating and integrating psychedelic experiences.

Amber’s journey began in earnest when she attended Dartmouth Medical School and gained firsthand insight into the critical gaps found in traditional medicine. Since then, she’s been on a quest to radically shift the way healthcare is defined and delivered. In addition to maintaining her private practice, Amber serves as a consultant and advisor to emerging companies in the psychedelic space.

Christopher Summers has 20+ years of experience specializing in driving top-line growth and operational efficiencies through sales & marketing, supply chain management, business transformation, M&A, and advisory services. Servicing clients that span from Fortune 500 companies to disruptive start-ups with a focus in FDA regulated, federal, and state-regulated industries in the US, South America, Europe, and Asia. Prior to joining Pirouette Group, LLC, Chris was a Managing Director / Partner at Slalom Consulting and Deloitte Consulting where he focused on mergers & acquisition, business transformation, value chain optimization, and go-to-market strategy. For the last three years, Christopher has been diving into the alternative medicine Industry. His experiences within Food & Beverage and Pharmaceutical value chains translate almost seamlessly into the plant medicine ecosystem.

Mr. Pickens is currently the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Astrotech Corporation (NASDAQ: ASTC) and also currently serves as the founder and Chairman of 1st Detect Corporation and founder, CEO, and Chairman of Agriculture Technology Corporation. AgTech is utilizing their access to superior technology and industry knowledge to develop plant medicine testing equipment, eliminate cross-contamination, and reduce the need for pesticides and other chemicals.

Dr. Barsuglia is a clinical psychologist focused on novel wellness solutions. He received his clinical training in academic medical centers including UCLA and USC. His research on psychedelic medicine and aging is published in the index of the National Institutes of Health, and he serves as an advisor for several research organizations at the forefront of alternative medicine therapies.