CEO & Founder, Global Hemp Association

Mandi Kerr is the CEO and Founder of the Global Hemp Association, a non-profit organization dedicated to growing the Industrial Hemp industry by elevating standards and highlighting leaders through Broadcast Media. She’s interviewed over 200 industry professionals—an up-to-date library of what’s going on in the industry as it happens. A knowledge base that’s extensive and diverse. The key is relationships. Mandi brings farmers, manufacturers, and other industry experts together to strengthen the hemp supply chain and educate each other. With 10+ years of sales, event promotion, marketing, and networking experience, she can identify and develop opportunities in an ever-evolving industry.

The Global Hemp Association (GHA) is a membership organization of hemp professionals, in roles throughout the hemp industry including farmers, manufacturers, supply

chain experts, finance, and more. The organization is based in the United States, with members all over the world. GHA supports efforts to change, replace, and create laws and regulations to improve the hemp industry. The GHA mission is “to build a secure, transparent, and trusted infrastructure that encourages collaborative connection between farmers, processors, manufacturers, and markets”. Global Hemp Association’s member platform, Hemp Hallway, is a robust platform that allows members to search content, make connections and stay up to date on the latest news.

In 2022, GHA partnered with crop consultants, universities and other various professionals to host National Fiber Variety Seed Trials in 10 states, 10 genetics, and 6 regions to help secure and scale the supply chain for Industrial Hemp.

Cannabis Policy Coordinator & Special Projects, Oregon Department of Agriculture

Sunny has a Bioresource Research degree from Oregon State University. She worked in pesticide regulation and enforcement for 12 years before making the leap to all things cannabis. Sunny has a strong commitment to Oregon and Oregon agriculture. When not scratching her head over state and Federal regulations, she can be found napping in the woods, kayaking the Willamette, or chasing one of the Bruiser Bros around the Sassy Sunflower Haus.

Christopher Strunk is a partner in Gordon & Rees’ Oakland office with more than 20 years of experience litigating complex environmental and toxic tort disputes.

He focuses on the defense of large, multi-party environmental matters, including mass tort and products liability litigation involving alleged toxic injury arising from asbestos, lead, mold, solvents, and other contaminants. He has represented microchip and technology companies, chemical and petrochemical companies, heavy equipment manufacturers, and the pesticide and fertilizer industry. Over the past five years, he has also developed a significant industrial hemp and cannabis practice, defending ancillary and plant-touching businesses in environmental disputes and litigation.

Mr. Strunk has earned a Martindale-Hubbell AV® Preeminent peer review rating in toxic torts, litigation and products liability each year from 2011 to the present.

Mr. Strunk has represented clients in the industrial hemp and cannabis sector since 2014, assisting companies in complying with state environmental laws, managing downstream risk, and defending them in high-stakes product liability litigation. Mr. Strunk is nationally recognized for his work on the environmental issues facing the cannabis industry, including litigation risks, state regulations, and agency enforcement. He is the vice chair of programming for the American Bar Association’s TIPS Cannabis Law Committee, and serves on the Defense Research Institute’s 2019 Cannabis Law Conference Committee. His nationally-published work has been featured in the Defense Research Institute’s The Voice and in the American Bar Association Environmental Law Section’s The Year in Review 2018. In 2018, DataBird Research Journal named Chris one of “250 Cannabis Law Experts.” In addition, he is a member of the National Cannabis Bar Association and the San Francisco Bar Association’s Cannabis Law Section.