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Come to the August Women Grow Meeting!

Interested in learning more about how to obtain a medical marijuana facility license? You need to start with your municipality! Our guest speaker this month will help you do just that! Eric Foster is the Director of Strategy & Client Acquisition for Banks & Company and Cannabis Practice Group. He has 27 years of community engagement, governmental affairs, public policy, business development, non-profit management, organizational development and talent management experience.

Cannabis Practice Group is a consulting agency who understands the ins and outs of the MMFLA and how to talk to your municipality about opting in. Whether your local municipality has opted out or is on the fence, Eric will help you understand how to approach your township, how to talk to them about community benefits regarding opting in and how to begin a voter referendum if they have opted out.

Eric’s regulatory and lobbying/advocacy engagement experience is of tremendous value for the evolving Cannabis industry. He has worked as a lead lobbyist to advocate for client positions to Federal, State, County, and Municipal elected officials. He advises clients on proper public policy outreach and how to manage the development of a consistent public policy agenda. In addition, he has managed the lobbying activities which impacted executive orders of over 160 legislative bills and $2 billion in appropriations in State, County & Municipal Governmental Units. He has consulted on 69 political campaigns from 2002 to 2015, serving in a leadership role in 54 of the campaigns in operational and management oversight. His management and consumer market behavioral targeting approach have resulted in successful victory outcomes in over 74% of the political campaign engagements.

Eric is currently leading our collaborative efforts with various governmental stakeholders to draft ordinance and statutory laws, administrative rules, compliance and reporting structure and reasonable taxation and assessment schedules that create favorable regulatory environments for our clients and the overall industry.

In addition, Eric’s experience includes consulting and/or managing

  • Large-scale corporate operations with 50 telesales agents, 63 customer care advocates & 2 coaches in individual small & mid-sized group health insurance markets
  • Consumer Food Products in the 48 Continental United States & Canada,
  • Medicare Advantage Products for individual consumer markets in all 50 States and US Territories
  • Public Electric and Natural Gas Utility service delivery for Residential & Commercial Energy Business Partners
  • Developed training programs, course and curriculum development for sales reps (Frito Lay Snacks To You division)
  • Customer service/call reps (Dialog Direct/DTE Customer Care Unit
  • United Health Care & BSBCM ISMG)
  • Governmental bodies (DPS, Highland Park Charter Commission, Michigan Legislative Black Caucus, Michigan Senate Democratic Caucus)
  • Community relations staff, political campaign staff, educational advocacy teams, senior management for small businesses, non-profit executive leaders and corporate leadership

 Don’t miss this month’s meeting which is sure to be engaging and very informative!

You can order tickets here: Tickets

Questions? Call Bloom at 734-585-0621
Time: 7:30-9:00 PM; Location: GO Where Meetings Matter, 4735 Washtenaw Ave, Ann Arbor, MI 48108

Doors open at 7pm