Minority Cannabis Business Association Announces New Board Members, Events

The Minority Cannabis Business Association (MCBA), the only nationwide trade association representing the interests of minority-owned businesses and their communities in the cannabis industry, has elected its new board of directors for the 2019-2020 board term. With this election comes several new members with track records in fighting for communities of color, who are added to a strong core of returning directors from a previous board that helped the association gain considerable traction in 2019 including being instrumental to the passage of the SAFE Banking Act.

Members of the 2019-2020 MCBA board of directors include:

• David Abernathy. The Arcview Group, Finance Committee Co-Chair
• Jazmin Aguiar, The Working Group, Finance Committee Co-Chair
• Brandon Banks, Natural Selections*, Co-Chair Economic Empowerment Committee
• Kaliko Castille, National Cannabis Industry Association, Vice President
• Al Harrington, Viola Extracts*
• Todd Hughes, EntreVation
• Kayvan Khalatbari, Denver Relief Consulting*
• Khurshid Khoja, Greenbridge Corporate Counsel*, Chair, Policy committee
• Dr. Rachel Knox, American Cannabinoid Clinics*, Chair Medical Committee
• Chanda Macias, Women Grow*
• Jason Ortiz, National Puerto Rican Agenda*, President
• Shanita Penny, Budding Solutions*
• Barrington Rutherford, Cresco Labs
• Jessica Velazquez, Indiva Advisors*, Treasurer
• Brandon Wyatt, Wyatt Legal & Consulting*, Secretary

*Denotes an incumbent board member who was reelected.

In addition to new members, Jason Ortiz was elected from among the board to serve as president, with Kaliko Castille elected to serve as vice president. Rounding out the executive board are Jessica Velazquez and Brandon Wyatt returning to their roles as treasurer and secretary, respectively.

The new leadership will immediately embark on an aggressive organizing schedule with three major initiatives announced.

Following up on a successful first Opportunity Summit in Denver, MCBA will be returning to Denver for a second Opportunity Summit in the spring of 2020.

MCBA plans on hosting a Tri-State Equity in Cannabis conference in December 2019 to respond to the recent announcement of a partnership between the governors of New York, Connecticut and New Jersey. This event will unite equity organizers from throughout the tri-state area to organize a unified push for social equity programs in all three states.

Lastly, MCBA has announced it’s intentions to host the International Latinos in Cannabis Opportunity Summit(La Asamblea Internacional de Latinos en Cannabis) which will be held in southern California in the Summer of 2020. Event planning will begin at a gathering of latinos in cannabis Oct. 7 in Long Beach California.