Marielle Weintraub, Ph.D., President of the U.S. Hemp Authority, is the Director of Scientific Research and Development for Zilis, LLC, a company focused on researching, developing endocannabinoid-based products.

Prior to joining Zilis, Marielle was the Strategic Business Development Director of the Hemp Initiative at Eurofins Food Integrity and Innovation (formerly Covance Food Solutions). In this role, she introduced the hemp industry and their needs for valid and reliable testing to Covance (2016) and continued to drive development of hemp-specific testing and standards until she left Eurofins in 2019.

Marielle is very active in many dietary supplement and hemp industry trade associations, including her role as a founding board member and the current President for the US Hemp Authority, a member of the US Hemp Roundtable - Analytical Standards Technical Committee, a member of the American Herbal Products Association - Cannabis Committee and a member of the United Natural Products Alliance - Hemp Extracts/CBD committee.

Marielle earned her M.S. and Ph.D. in Behavioral Neuroscience from Texas Christian University in 2011 and 2014, respectively, focusing her research on Alzheimer's disease pathology, including the accumulation of amyloid-beta plaques and prevention of cognitive deficits resulting from peripheral inflammation.

Richard A. Badaracco, Secretary of the U.S. Hemp Authority, is an accomplished law enforcement professional with nearly four decades of service in public safety and law enforcement, and nearly two decades of executive, command and supervisory experience. Among his varied roles and responsibilities, Rich served as an Assistant Special Agent in Charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in Detroit and Louisville, the Staff Coordinator at DEA Headquarters in Washington DC, the Interim Chief of Police for the Corpus Christi Police Department, the Commissioner of the Department of Criminal Investigations for Kentucky's Attorney General, and the Executive Director of Appalachia High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.

Jonathan Shell, Treasurer of the U.S. Hemp Authority, is the Campaign Chairman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Director of State Initiatives for the Pegasus Institute, a Louisville-based conservative think-tank specializing in public policy research.

From 2017-2019, Shell served as the first Republican Majority Floor Leader in the history of the Commonwealth. He served as a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives from 2013-2019, representing Garrard, Rockcastle, and part of Madison Counties.

In 2015, he was selected to serve as the House Republican Caucus Campaign Chairman, where he was in charge of overseeing all Republican recruitment for the 2016 House elections. In November of 2016, Republicans picked up 17 seats and took the majority for the first time in 95 years, and his colleagues rewarded his efforts by electing him House Majority Leader.

During his time in the General Assembly, Shell championed issues aimed at improving Kentucky’s economy and protecting life, including infrastructure and workforce development measures, right-to-work, and numerous pro-life bills. He has also worked diligently to ensure that vital infrastructure needs are met, as displayed by his securing passage of a major I-75 widening project in Rockcastle County.

In August of 2017, Shell was named Campaign Chairman for the re-election of U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell. Shell will be leading McConnell’s grassroots efforts, including traveling the state and organizing voters in support of McConnell, who also serves as Majority Leader of the United States Senate. In announcing the move, McConnell commended Shell for “dedicating his professional life to advancing conservative values” as well as stating that Shell’s “experience, leadership, and commitment to public service will prove to be invaluable assets to the campaign team.”

In his role with the Pegasus Institute, Shell is focused on expanding the organization’s footprint across the Commonwealth.

Shell helps manage Shell Farms, a 1,200-acre family farm based in his hometown of Lancaster, KY. He is a graduate of Eastern Kentucky University, where he earned his Bachelor of Science in Agriculture. Jonathan and his wife, Brooke, are the proud parents of three young children, Jaxson, Lydia, and Reagan, and the attend Pilot Knob Missionary Baptist Church in Berea.

Ron Conyea was nominated to the Authority Board by the U.S. Hemp Growers Association, for which he serves as a Trustee. Ron is a grower representative for GenCanna Global US, Inc. and resides in Graves County KY. Ron is a hemp and tobacco farmer as well as a crop adjuster. Ron and his wife are the proud parents to two children.

Nathan Gerhardt was nominated to the Authority Board by the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, for which he serves as a member of the Executive Committee. Nathan is the Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Compliance for Charlotte's Web, Inc., the market leader in the production and distribution of innovative hemp-derived cannabidiol ("CBD") wellness products. Mr. Gerhardt is an accomplished legal executive with over 15 years' experience devising and implementing practical solutions to complex problems in the food, beverage and dietary supplement space. Immediately prior to joining Charlotte's Web, Mr. Gerhardt served as Associate General Counsel and Sr. Director of Quality for Omega Protein Corporation, a nutritional specialty oils and proteins products company, where he was responsible for the company's legal, regulatory and quality functions. Prior to this, Mr. Gerhardt served as General Counsel for a fast-growing dietary supplement company where he was responsible for the company's legal and regulatory functions, as well as quality. Prior to practicing law, Mr. Gerhardt served as a naval officer in the U.S. Navy. Mr. Gerhardt holds a Juris Doctor and MBA from the University of Oregon and a Bachelor's degree in Political Science from the University of Washington.

Born and raised in the Bluegrass State and a University of Kentucky alumnus, Josh Hendrix relocated back to Central Kentucky in 2014 on a mission to help rebuild the US hemp industry. Seeing a need to bring farmers, processors, manufacturers and supporters of the industry together, Josh founded the Kentucky Hemp Industries Association that summer and has served as President and on the board of directors for the group. He was also a founding member of the US Hemp Roundtable where he has served on the Board of Directors since it’s inception and recently served as President in 2019. In 2015 he created and became President of Hendrix Hemp, a licensed hemp producer that managed hemp cultivation on his family’s, Mayflower Farm, in Mount Sterling, KY for 3 years. In early 2017 Josh was appointed to serve on the Board of Directors for Friends of Hemp where he still serves and in 2019 he was elected to the Board of Directors to the US Hemp Growers Association. He was elected to serve on the Board of Directors for the US Hemp Authority in early 2020 as well. He is also the host of the very popular podcast, the Hemp Happy Hour, where he discusses the emerging industry with a variety of guests. Most recently Josh served as the Director of Business Development and Hemp Production for CV Sciences, Inc. where he worked with numerous universities, farmers, businesses, and organizations to help facilitate the infrastructure necessary to establish a modern domestic supply chain for hemp in the United States.

Amber Littlejohn is a policy attorney and natural products industry veteran with two decades of experience in emerging and embattled industries. Amber has developed and implemented creative strategies and initiatives to expand and stabilize markets by engaging underrepresented business interests and communities. She is the Senior Policy Advisor for the Minority Cannabis Business Association where she creates and drives policy for minority entrepreneurs and their communities. Amber currently serves as a member of the U.S. Hemp Roundtable Minority Economic Empowerment Committee.

Prior to her work with MCBA, Amber was an advisor and advocate for the cannabis and natural products industries on issues including natural and herbal products regulation, agriculture, and small business and rural economic development. She previously worked in regulatory and legislative policy for the American Herbal Products Association where she served as staff liaison to the sports nutrition and personal care industries. Her broad experience in the natural products industry include Executive Vice President of a successful sports nutrition company where she gained extensive knowledge of policy issues throughout the food and dietary supplement supply chains.

Amber received her B.S. from the University of Central Florida and her juris doctorate from the University of San Diego School of Law.

Dustin McDaniel, formerly Arkansas Attorney General, is an attorney in Little Rock, Arkansas. He is a partner in the firm of McDaniel, Wolff & Benca, PLLC (www.MWBFirm.com). Dustin was elected to the Arkansas House of Representatives in 2004, serving from 2005-2007. He was the only freshman lawmaker in the 85^th General Assembly to be named by the Arkansas DemocratGazette to its “Top 10 Legislators” list in 2005. In 2006, Dustin was elected as Arkansas’s 55^th Attorney General. At the time, he was the youngest Attorney General in the United States. In 2010, Dustin was reelected. He was selected by his colleagues around the nation to hold many leadership roles, including Chairman of the Southern Region of the National Association of Attorneys General, Co-Chair of the Democratic Attorneys General Association and Chairman of the NAAG Tobacco Project, which oversees roughly $7 Billion in annual payments between settling tobacco companies and 46 states. Dustin currently serves as Co-Chair of the Society of Attorneys General Emeritus (SAGE), which is the professional association for all former AG’s in the United States. Dustin is also proud to be the first Arkansan named as a Rodel Fellow at the Aspen Institute.

Under the Arkansas Constitution, Dustin was term limited for life as AG at the end of his second term. In 2015, he formed the law firm of McDaniel, Richardson and Calhoun, PLLC which quickly established a successful national attorney general practice managing investigations, litigations and general government affairs with AG’s and governors. The firm also navigated regulatory and political affairs, as well as litigation in Arkansas on complex issues including education, manufacturing, healthcare, technology, medical cannabis, tobacco and casino gaming.

In 2019, McDaniel Richardson & Calhoun, PLLC merged with the Little Rock tax law firm of Wolff & Ward, PLLC and the criminal defense firm of Benca & Johnston, PLLC to form McDaniel Wolff & Benca, PLLC.

Dustin and his wife Bobbi have three children. Both are active in the community. Dustin is a member of 50 For the Future and serves on the boards of The University of Arkansas Alumni Association, The UALR Wm. H Bowen School of Law Dean’s Advisory Council and The U.S. Hemp Authority. Bobbi works as a client advocate at the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance. Dustin graduated cum laude with his Juris Doctor from the Bowen School of Law, where he served as Honor Council Prosecutor and as Assistant Articles Editor for the UALR Law Review. The law school presented Dustin with its “Young Alumnus Award” in 2002 and its “Distinguished Alumnus Award” in 2019. He is a graduate of the Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas, where he was Interfraternity Council President and a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity. In 2004, Dustin was an honor graduate of the Arkansas Law Enforcement Training Academy as a Patrolman for the Jonesboro Police Department. He has maintained his law enforcement certification to this day, serving as a volunteer deputy sheriff in Poinsett County, Arkansas. In 2008, The Arkansas Sheriff’s Association named Dustin “Arkansas’s 76^th Sheriff,” an honor previously bestowed only once to the late Lieutenant Governor Winthrop Rockefeller.

Larisa Pavlick was nominated to the Authority Board by the United Natural Products Alliance, for which she serves as the Vice President of Global Quality and Compliance. She has a passion for the dietary supplement and natural products industry and for helping others. She joined us with 20 years of combined experience from industry plus nearly eight years at the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Previously, Larisa worked as Consumer Safety Officer/Investigator for the FDA in the Denver District Office. While at the FDA, she primarily conducted inspections and investigations for dietary supplement firms and ingredient suppliers. She has conducted inspections both domestically and internationally. While at the FDA, Larisa was recognized by her peers as a resource and subject matter expert for dietary supplements.

While at the FDA, Larisa was trained and qualified to conduct general food GMP inspections as well as specialized, technical food inspections including Juice HACCP, Seafood HACCP, Low Acid Canned Foods, and Acidified Foods. Mrs. Pavlick also received additional FDA training for drug investigations including all five courses required for a pharmaceutical inspectorate (PI): Basic Drug School, Pre-Approval Inspections, Process Validations of Drug Manufacturing Operations, Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Manufacturing, and Industrial Sterilization.

Before joining the FDA, Larisa had over 12 years of experience in the dietary supplement industry. In industry, she specialized in product development, quality, regulatory, and operations. She has strong experience and training in quality systems, compliance and regulatory affairs, daily operations, technical purchasing, and product development.

Larisa has worked within the supplement industry for her entire career. She has lived and experienced the full product life cycle from the development phase, through purchasing, into manufacturing, and was an active participant in brand management. She has worked for several large companies including Amrion (now owned and operated by Nature’s Bounty (NBTY)) and Univera Life Sciences. Starting In 2001, she worked at Industrial Labs (IL), an independent testing laboratory. At IL, she helped companies to develop testing and monitoring programs for a dietary supplement. In 2005, she began at NSF International where she worked within the Dietary Supplement Group assisting with GMP Certification and Product Registration.

Larisa graduated from the University of Colorado-Denver where she received a bachelor’s degree in Biology.

Outside of work, Larisa and her family are very active. Some of her favorite activities include riding motorcycles, gardening, and reading. She never misses an opportunity to enjoy the great outdoors including kayaking, hiking, biking, and camping.

Annie Rouse was nominated to serve on the Authority Board by the Hemp Industries Association, for which she serves as Secretary and Director. Annie has been at the forefront of the US hemp industry since 2009 with experience across the three industry sectors: grain, fiber and cannabinoids from farm to finished product. In 2013 she received a US Fulbright Scholarship to study Canada’s hemp supply chain. Annie is a serial entrepreneur, with start-ups across the CBD sector including Overcome (formerly Nature’s Hemp Oil), a US Hemp Authority Certified lifestyle CBD brand as well as Anavii Market, an e-commerce retailer for verified CBD. In 2019 she co-founded OP Innovates, a hemp formulations company dedicated to delivering the world’s most effective cannabinoids.

Annie is a thought-leader on the theories behind cannabis prohibition, which she has unfolded through years of extensive archival research and published within her podcast series, Anslinger: The untold cannabis conspiracy - an interview-narration style podcast.

Annie also serves the industry in various capacities including as President and Founder of Friends of Hemp, an industry non profit, as well as serving as an Executive Committee Board Member to the Hemp Industries Association where she assists as ASTM liaison to the D37 Cannabis Committee, State Chapter Task Force Co-Chair and US Hemp Roundtable co-liaison.

Beyond start-ups, research and organizational work, Annie is a published author and an experienced public speaker on hemp, with her most renowned engagements on the Today Show, at Natural Products Expo East & West and DEFCON.

Annie received her BS in Economics and holds a Masters in International Environmental Policy and an MBA. To explore more about Annie and her journey visit her blog, Think Hempy Thoughts.