Melissa Clark-Reynolds became a Foresight Practitioner and Professional Director after 25 plus years’ experience as an entrepreneur and CEO of a number of Technology companies.

She was awarded the ONZM for Services to Technology in 2015. Melissa is a director of Atkins Ranch Lamb and Alpine Energy, and on the Advisory Board of Flux Federation, with previous roles including deputy chair of Radio NZ, Chair of Little Yellow Bird, and the first independent director on Beef and Lamb NZ.

Melissa works with food companies to execute transformational strategies, through futurecentre.nz. A beekeeper and keen gardener, she tweets as @HoneyBeeGeek.

Elizabeth Plant is currently the Chief Medical Officer of EQALIS Pharmaceuticals Ltd a medical cannabis company. This role involves providing education and clinical advice to doctors and consumers

Prior to this she held a number of senior pharmacy roles including independent consulting and she was the Chief Pharmacist/Director of Medication Management of Taranaki DHB for nearly 20 years.

She was the President of the NZ Pharmaceutical Society for 5 years (2008-2013) and a ministerial appointment to the NHITB (National Health IT Board) for 8 years (2008-2016). She was a founding and active member of all the New Zealand medication safety committees over the past 20 years and a member of the original PHARMAC Hospital Procurement Advisory Committee (HPAC) serving for 3 years.

She is a registered pharmacist with fellowships awarded from the Pharmaceutical Society and College of Pharmacists. She has an Advanced Clinical Pharmacy Post Graduate Diploma and a Masters in Health Sciences, both with distinction. She is a trained Quality Health Auditor and very experienced in implementing electronic medication systems with the associated clinical change management.

Ikaika (Kai) Keli’iho’omalu is a 3rd generation Native-Hawaiian cannabis cultivator and entrepreneur from Puna on the Big Island of Hawai’i where he first learned to cultivate cannabis from his father and extended family. Since then, Ikaika has gone on to extend his career in cannabis starting his own cannabis cultivation business at the age of 25 as well as working for a number of other cannabis cultivators and micro-businesses. Ikaika has been a vocal advocate for social justice and equity in the cannabis industry both in California where he chaired the youth seat on the San Francisco Cannabis Legalization Task Force for two years as well as at home in Hawai’i where he has advocated for Native-Hawaiians and craft growers alike. Ikaika now has 13 years of experience in large-scale cannabis horticulture and business spanning multiple medical cannabis markets including Oregon, California, Hawai’i, and British Columbia. Ikaika has worked with a range of cultivation methodologies from advanced hydroponic techniques to Korean Natural Farming and No-till. He now oversees the cultivation department as Cultivation Manager at Helius Therapeutics state-of-the-art GACP cultivation facility based in Auckland, Aotearoa/New Zealand.

Andrew has more than 20 years’ experience working in business media both in NZ and Australia. During the course of his career he has interviewed more than 1,000 CEOs, business leaders and authors and has travelled to more than 50 countries.

A freelance writer and corporate speaker/MC, Andrew admits to being a self-confessed ‘news junkie’ and bookworm and has a wide range of interests particularly technology, business innovation and commercialisation, entrepreneurship, and the future of work.

He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree and a Master’s in Business Commercialisation & Entrepreneurship from the University of Auckland.

Mitch is an experienced CEO & Executive Director with a demonstrated history of working in and delivering value to FMCG, pharmaceutical & manufacturing industries, most specifically in food, pharmaceuticals, personal care / health care sectors.

He was the Managing Director of API Consumer Brands, an Auckland based high-end manufacturer and distributer of pharmaceuticals, wellness products and consumer toiletries. API (NZ) has a turnover over $70M+, 250+ staff, with markets in NZ, Australia and Asia. With its two manufacturing plants, it’s the largest manufacturer of controlled substances (medicines) in the Southern Hemisphere and the largest supplier of analgesics (pain medications) to the NZ market. It supplies to Pharmac (NZ), pharmacy and retail in NZ, Australia and across Asia.
Mitch’s commercial career has been centred on consumer goods, financial performance management and manufacturing for 25+ years. He has been actively involved in a number of M&A activities, export expansions and successful business “commercial rescues”.

In NZ, Mitch has also held senior management/CEO positions at some of NZ’s most respected companies – Fonterra, Air NZ, Goodman Fielder and Ecostore.

Prior to arriving in New Zealand in 2002 he had lived in the UK, Brazil, Spain and the USA and had worked for (or consulted to) several global companies including: Unilever, Cadbury Schweppes, Ericsson, United Airlines, Heineken, Kelloggs, Nabisco, Telefonica and Ford Motor Group.

He earned his BA in International Business from San Diego State University in ‘92, an MBA from London Business School in ‘97, and General Management from Harvard Business School in ’04.

Mitch is a Director at the CEO Institute, a member of Young Presidents Association (YPO Global) and NZ Institute of Directors(IOD) and a past lecturer on Leadership. He is also fluent in both Spanish and Portuguese.

Drawing on nearly three decades experience at global agribusiness Nufarm (ASX: NUF), and as the founding Chairman of MCIA, Cann Group’s CEO Peter Crock is shaping the future of the medicinal cannabis industry in Australia. With Peter at the helm and working closely with an experienced board of directors, Cann Group (ASX: CAN) received the first commercial cultivation licence in Australia, and was the first medicinal cannabis company to successfully list via an Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), raising AUD$13.5 million.

To accelerate its growth, Cann Group has completed subsequent capital raisings totalling more than AUD$125m, which has enabled the advancement of its’ most ambitious project to date; a controlled environment, automated production facility which will be capable of producing up to 70,000kg of medicinal cannabis products per year when at full capacity.

With deep knowledge and experience in the areas of marketing, business and technology development, as well as mergers and acquisitions, Peter has overseen the growth and advancement of Cann Group.
In chairing the MCIA, Australia’s peak industry body for medicinal cannabis, Peter is well versed in the management of regulatory framework in both Australia, and abroad.

Bonni Goldstein, MD is the Medical Director of Canna-Centers Wellness & Education, a California-based medical practice devoted to educating patients about the use of cannabis for serious and chronic medical conditions.  After years of working in the specialty of Pediatric Emergency medicine, she developed an interest in the science of medical cannabis after witnessing its beneficial effects in an ill friend.  Over the last 13 years she has evaluated thousands of patients for use of medical cannabis and is recognized as an expert in the clinical application of cannabis therapeutics.  She has a special interest in treating children with intractable epilepsy, autism, cancer and other serious conditions. Her latest book, “Cannabis is Medicine: How Medical Cannabis and CBD are Healing Everything from Anxiety to Chronic Pain” was published in September 2020 by Little, Brown Spark.