06-23-25 - City Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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Qualifications & Experience Bill and Colin will be joined by a team of individuals with extensive cannabis experience, specific to evaluating opportunities and building organizations to thrive in the legal cannabis markets. Full bios can be found in the Relevant Information to Demonstrate Qualifications section of this RFP. The team has conducted feasibility studies in over 15 markets nationwide. These have included: Evaluation of market opportunity for vertically integrated and stand-alone cannabis operations. Understanding local and transient customer bases, and potential business locations. Determine required resources, and the economic impact (including tax implications) for the most efficacious economic opportunity. The team has provided consulting services and executed on business plans in more than 12 markets across the US. Relevant Information to Demonstrate Qualifications The team conducting the work required will include, but not be limited to, the following individuals: Bill Parker Bill Parker brings a mix of operational discipline, personal compassion, and unique life experience to every role he takes on. Drawing from his time served in the US Army, Bill understands the need for structure and precision in building trust and delivering consistent, superior results. Bill's passion to help others is driven by his years served as a paramedic and his son's heroic battle with pediatric cancer. Witnessing the benefits of cannabis firsthand, Bill now dedicates his time to normalizing and destigmatizing cannabis. Bill served as CEO and President of LeafLine Labs, helping lead the company to dominate the Minnesota medical cannabis market. He has a wide array of cannabis experience from his years working and managing a 100% vertically integrated medical cannabis company. Bill is well -versed in cannabis operations (retail, cultivation, processing, etc.), program compliance, security, government relations, and cannabinoid therapy. Colin Kelley Colin Kelley is a Senior Partner at Merida Capital Holdings, the largest cannabis private equity fund in the world. In this role he has overseen the investment of more than $300m and build cannabis companies worth nearly $1 B. He currently oversees over 80 companies operating in 12 different states. At Merida he led the i2 Minority Business Accelerator, which selected five BIPOC and/or Native led cannabis businesses to receive funding and assistance from the Merida management team, particularly Colin. He also is a board member of six cannabis companies, and a cannabis point of sale software company. He is a member of the editorial board for Cannabis Business Times and The Cannabis Conference — and is a frequent contributor to both. Prior to joining Merida Colin served as a board member for LeafLine Labs, one of two licensees in Minnesota's medical cannabis program. At LeafLine he also filled the role of Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and President of the Wellness (CBD) division. During that time he oversaw the expansion of LeafLine from a paper license with no employees to a thriving operation with more than six dispensaries, a cultivation and manufacturing facility, and more than 200 employees. Before joining the cannabis industry Colin held leadership roles at Dun & Bradstreet, State Street Bank, Wind River Capital Management, the SAP Business Incubator, and the Civilian Research and Development Fund — specifically the denuclearization of Libya. He attended Bryant University in Rhode Island earning a Bachelor of Science of Business Administration with a dual concentration of Finance and Management. Page 81 of 142