Travis Priddy is the founder and CEO of 369 Hemp, a startup hemp cigarette company located in Ridgeway, SC’s Opportunity Zone. Travis is a seasoned entrepreneur; in 2017 he sold his previous cannabis startup, GreenRock Botanicals, Inc., of California, to a well known publicly traded company. In 2014, after a 12 year career at Philip Morris International managing multiple international cigarette markets for the tobacco giant, Travis started his first company, Rock Vapor Technologies, Inc, which designed and manufactured electronic cigarettes in Austin, TX and San Clemente, California. Travis currently resides in Greenville, SC with his wife and 3 sons. When he is not working on his new manufacturing project with the 369 Hemp team, he can be found on the sidelines or in the dugout at one of his son’s (many) games as coach or enthusiastic supporter

Martin Steinbauer co-founded nicotine vaporizer company SMOOD, serves as the chief engineer, and holds 9 granted and pending patents. SMOOD has grown into a global business built on sustainability, advanced chemistry, IoT-enabled devices, and consumer centricity. Prior to SMOOD, Martin was an investment analyst at BlackRock in New York City. Martin graduated from Harvard University with a degree in Applied Mathematics.

Dr. Zdinak holds a Ph.D. in Social Psychology, and a doctoral specialization in statistics. She has led research teams since 2005, supporting CDC, NIH, NSF, and other large-scale grants and projects. She has served as a Social Scientist at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD, and later as a Director of Applied Research and Evaluation at a management consulting firm in Maryland. In these capacities she helped to design research program evaluations, with her most memorable efforts leading a team of researchers and physicians to develop an Intimate Partner Violence/Domestic Violence prevention and response e-learning curriculum. This was one of the only programs of its kind in the United States at that time, training over 7,000 health care providers to assess for and respond to domestic and sexual violence in over 80 clinical settings. Dr. Zdinak is passionate about developing this type of program related to nicotine and tobacco products.

Following her public health experience, Dr. Zdinak spent 6 years at Altria, where she designed, led, and reported on Perception and Behavior studies for various PMTAs. She also spent time leading product research focused on innovation and future harm reduction opportunities. She now serves as Chief Research Officer and Owner of Applied Research and Analysis Company (ARAC), where she leads a team of Ph.D. and Master’s level behavioral scientists in conducting quantitative and qualitative research. This team specializes in TPPI studies, Human Factors and Label Comprehension research, and Actual Use and Longitudinal Experimental Switching Studies. The ARAC team understands that in this regulatory environment, outside researchers must be strategic thinkers and partners in the product innovation, PMTA, and MRTPA process.

Eric Gotting represents Keller and Heckman’s clients in litigation and related matters, specializing in complex civil and appellate matters, internal investigations, and regulatory compliance. With an extensive background in environmental and FDA law, he has expanded his practice over the years to cover many of Keller and Heckman’s industry sectors and regulatory areas, including tobacco and e-vapor. Eric is a former Am Law 50 litigation partner and U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Division, Trial Attorney. Eric’s practice spans a broad range of legal issues, including administrative and constitutional law, agency enforcement actions, toxic torts, product liability, general business litigation, and regulatory advice. He works with a diverse set of industries, including chemicals, plastics, pesticides, fuels and pipelines, food and packaging, consumer goods, telecommunications, and e-cigarettes. As a litigator, Eric has tried cases to verdict and argued appeals before federal and state courts across the country. His experience includes class actions, mass tort litigation, AAA arbitrations, and agency proceedings. Eric has also litigated challenges to federal and state statutes, regulations, and orders, including PMTA marketing denial orders. He has particular expertise involving the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), the Dormant Commerce Clause, the First Amendment, the Due Process Clause, and federal preemption. He has also filed amicus briefs in litigation involving regulatory issues facing a variety of industry sectors, including on behalf of the e-vapor industry.

Dr. Vincent Angelico is a co-founder of Accorto Regulatory Solutions and serves as its Chief Science Officer. In this role, Vince spends most of his time working with clients to formulate cost effective and successful regulatory strategies that meet client and FDA expectations.  Prior to joining Accorto, Vince was a senior executive at Blackbriar Regulatory Services, where he provided scientific and regulatory consulting to several alternative nicotine products companies and developed the regulatory strategy for Avail Vapor LLC, which ultimately submitted some of the few pre-market applications that the FDA did not reject in this constantly changing newly regulated market.  Vince developed his professional career working in the in the pharmaceutical industry, starting out as research and development chemist at Merck & Co Pharmaceuticals.  While at Merck, Vince helped develop products in the new drug pipeline and moved through the ranks to become a product development team leader.  His work led to regulatory filings on the notable cholesterol regulating drug ZOCOR™ (simvastatin).  Vince later worked for the German based pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim (BI), where he was assigned to their active ingredient manufacturing site in Petersburg Virginia.  Vince served in several different leadership roles for BI before ultimately becoming the Director of Manufacturing Operations in 2012.  Vince holds a BS in Chemistry from Virginia Commonwealth University and a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Arizona.

Jennifer H. Smith, Ph.D. serves as Associate Fellow, Scientific Strategy & Advocacy, for Altria Client Services (ALCS) in Richmond, VA. In this role, she leads and coordinates the development and execution of scientific strategies that support regulatory submissions and engagement for innovative smoke-free tobacco products, including oral tobacco derived nicotine.

Since joining Altria in 2003, Dr. Smith has held numerous research and leadership positions within Altria. Most recently, she served as Director, Regulatory Advocacy, where she led the development of advocacy strategies for reduced-risk tobacco product standards and the creation of responses to FDA dockets related to proposed rulemaking.

Prior to joining Altria, Dr. Smith earned a Ph.D. from Virginia Tech. There she studied novel materials for chromatographic separations, conducted research supporting Homeland Security, and taught short courses for the American Chemical Society. She also holds a Regulatory Affairs Certification (RAC) from the Regulatory Affairs Professional Society.

Regulatory Affairs Certification, Regulatory Affairs Professional Society, 2019

Ph.D., Analytical Chemistry, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 2002

B.S., Chemistry, Emory & Henry College, Emory, VA 1998

Sky is an experienced electrical engineer with over 25 years of experience ranging across numerous industries including telecommunications, appliances, petrochemical, and tobacco. As a Master Scientist within the Reynolds American Group, Sky supports regulatory submission activities through device product development, testing and reporting for Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) and Tobacco Heated Products (THP). Sky has supported several of Reynolds American’s Premarket Tobacco Product Applications (PMTA), including Vuse Solo, which received a Marketing Granted Order from the FDA in October of 2021. He also supports engineering design projects related to youth access prevention. Sky is a strong advocate of Tobacco Harm Reduction and potentially reduced risk products, and he is an expert on ENDS and THP devices.

Tim Phillips is the Managing Director of Tamarind Intelligence, publisher of leading business intelligence services ECigIntelligence, CBD-Intel and TobaccoIntelligence. These independent market data and regulatory tracking and analysis services for the vape, CBD and tobacco-alternatives industries provide market-leading insights into the sectors they cover for clients ranging from governments and academic institutions to multinational companies and professional service providers.

Tim Phillips is a UK-qualified attorney, having worked at the European Commission, international law firm Herbert Smith, media companies BSkyB and AOL, and Betfair, where he worked in various legal and government relations roles as the company went through its IPO. He was also a partner in a New York venture capital-funded start-up in the diamond sector. Tim holds a postgraduate diploma in legal practice from the University of Law, London and a masters degree in geology from Oxford University. He has run for Tamarind Intelligence for the past 6 years.

Chief Scientific Adviser

As Labstat’s Chief Scientific Advisor (CSA), Mr. Joza monitors the development of new and emerging technologies, to adapt the testing services offered by Labstat to these products. Mr. Joza joined Labstat in 1990 and was actively involved in the growth of Labstat through the development and implementation of procedures used by both the food and tobacco characterization programs. Mr. Joza is highly experienced in the development, management and translation of testing information to a variety of audiences.

As Labstat’s Chief Technical Officer (CTO), he occupied a senior role in facilitating the company’s scientific research and analytical functions. He has been the presenter or co-author of more than 40 presentations at international research conferences or workshops, and has co-authored 10 peer-reviewed publications. As a Chartered Chemist with the Association of the Chemical Profession of Ontario, Mr. Joza is a recognized global expert in his field and is an active member of several CORESTA (Cooperation Centre for Scientific Research Relative to Tobacco) study groups involved with various types of product testing.

Peter is an active member of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tobacco Laboratory Network (TobLabNet), as well as the International Standards Organization ISO TC126 (Tobacco Products), ISO TC126/WG3 (Vaping Products) and ISO TC126/WG22 (Heated Products). Mr. Joza attended McMaster University and received his B.Sc (Majors) Chemistry in 1988.

Senior Director for Dietary Supplement and Tobacco Services

Shelly Blackwell brings over 22 years of quality and compliance experience in highly regulated environments to the EAS Consulting Group. After starting her career as a Microbiologist, she gained expert knowledge of a variety of domestic and international regulations while holding senior leadership positions in the dietary supplement, pharmaceutical, and medical device industries. These positions include 7 years as the Quality Assurance Director for GNC / Nutra Manufacturing and most recently leading the Quality Systems and Compliance Team at Bausch and Lomb in Greenville, SC.

Shelly’s accomplishments while leading Quality teams include developing supplier qualification programs, sourcing and implementing electronic QMS systems, implementing inspection readiness programs resulting in improved regulatory standing, risk-based quality system development, data integrity program development, and numerous successful continuous improvement initiatives. She has lead FDA and other regulatory inspections throughout her career and is also a lead auditor herself, auditing raw material suppliers and finished product manufacturers all over the world. Shelly holds certifications from the American Society of Quality and the Institute of Food Technology and has a Biology degree from James Madison University.

Chris co-founded Broughton in 2006, having worked previously within global blue-chip pharmaceutical
companies and Contract Research Organisations within the medicinal product and medical device sectors.

Chris Allen is the Chief Executive Officer at Broughton. Since obtaining a Bachelor of Science degree in
Chemistry and a subsequent Post Graduate Certificate in Analytical Science, he has gained over 25 years of analytical and regulatory experience working in global medical device and pharmaceutical companies and leading CROs. Chris started his career working on both Medical Devices and Pharmaceutical products within Smith+Nephew. Subsequently, Chris moved into inhaled medicines, supporting blue-chip pharmaceutical companies’ drug product registration programs within the Melbourn Intertek.

Before co-founding Broughton, Chris moved into a leadership role with Sciantec (Cawood), successfully
overseeing its entry into the Veterinary Medicines market, supporting global Marketing Authorizations
and site inspections.

Chris co-founded Broughton Laboratories in 2006, with Paul Moran, overseeing its first and successful
MHRA Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) inspection within the first three months. With a focus on
supporting marketing Authorizations and Post Marketing activities within the pharmaceutical sector,
Broughton played a pivotal role in obtaining the first UK Medicinal License for an electronic cigarette, a project that started in 2010.

Chris took this combined experience of Pharmaceuticals and nicotine to expand Broughton’s services to support the development and registration of Reduced-Risk Tobacco Products, including Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS). Rapid growth within this area resulted in the incorporation of Broughton Nicotine Services, a sister company to Broughton Laboratories, and a multi-million-pound (GBP) investment into a custom-built facility, leading-edge analytical equipment and expansion of the team and service offerings. Chris has overseen multiple product applications for the EU Tobacco Products Directive (TPD), US Premarket Tobacco Product Application (PMTA) and other global
markets. With over ten years of working with ENDS, Allen has become well established as a recognized
subject matter expert in the science and regulation of tobacco products.

As Chief Executive Officer of Broughton, Chris’ passion lies in developing the Broughton Team and associated services to deliver life-enhancing products to market for their clients.

Mark brings over 20 years experience in the foodservice, retail and FMCG sectors to GlobalData.  Mark joined the GlobalData team in 2017 following 5 years living in Canada where he was an insights leader for PepsiCo and strategy consulting leader for the NPD group.   In his role at GlobalData, Mark brings bold thought-leadership to global partners across the manufacturer, retailer and distributor segments; always striving to find new ways to create growth by positively influencing shopper behaviour.

Mark brings significant FMCG knowledge and expertise to the conference having led research around the world on topics from shopper segmentation, to category market sizing to innovation planning and the study of global best practices.

Mark will be chairing the conference whilst sharing his views on the changing nature of next generation product offerings, the demands and expectations of today’s consumer, and the innovations and trends that will shape the future…

Dave DeJean is responsible for Systech’s strategic opportunities. He supports and educates customers and stakeholders on best practices for implementing enterprise serialization, traceability and authentication solutions. Dave brings over 35 years of market knowledge and hands-on experience in regulatory compliance, brand protection and supply chain traceability solution development and project methodology. He is a subject matter expert in packaging execution systems, product identification and supply chain transparency with a focus on pharma—one of the world's most heavily regulated industries.

Eric, a partner in the firm’s Washington D.C. office, is a member of the Business Litigation group and co-leads the Cannabis practice. He has extensive experience in the cannabis, e-cigarette and vaping industries, advising clients on FDA and state regulatory compliance and enforcement issues, contractual and transactional matters and intellectual property issues. Eric was part of a landmark litigation team that established the legal framework for the vaping industry as it exists today. On behalf of an e-cigarette distributor, he argued that the product was the functional equivalent of traditional cigarettes and not unapproved drugs or medical devices, as the FDA contended. This resulted in the FDA amending its scope of authority to regulate e-cigarette use under the FD&C Act and the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. Eric also successfully led the team for the Vapor Technology Association suit against New York state’s emergency ban on the possession and sale of flavored vaping products. Eric is advising more than 30 clients on navigating the PACT Act.

Joe Smith, a partner in the firm’s Washington D.C. office, is a member of the Business Litigation group and co-leads the Cannabis practice. Joe focuses his practice on litigation and regulatory compliance with a particular bend toward the cannabis and hemp industries and related industries. Joe is considered one of the cannabis industry’s most knowledgeable lawyers on federal and state regulatory compliance, including compliance with the expanded PACT Act and related state licensure and tax requirements. Joe regularly counsels clients in the cannabis industry and ancillary businesses on federal and state regulations affecting marijuana, hemp, CBD and other cannabis-related products and services. Joe also currently serves as vice-chair of the State Regulations Committee of the National Cannabis Industry Association. Additionally, as an experienced litigator, Joe represents cannabis and non-cannabis clients in state and federal court in a broad range of commercial and civil matters.

Dr. Cuie Yan holds four degrees including a Ph. D. in Polymer Chemistry & Physics. She has been working on encapsulation/application of active ingredients and taste modulators for 26+ years, with DSM, PepsiCo and AB-InBev prior to Blue California, with a focus on leading teams launching marketing winning food, nutrient and pharma products, with $100 + million profit creation. Meanwhile, she has authored 36 articles in peer reviewed scientific journals including 2 book chapters, along with 10 patents.

Gerald "Jerry" Donnini II is a shareholder of the Law Offices of Moffa, Sutton, & Donnini, P.A. He is also president and founder of Tobacco Tax Refund, Inc, which focuses on state tax and licensing issues in the tobacco and vape industry.  Mr. Donnini concentrates in the area of state tax and licensing matters, with a heavy emphasis on the tobacco, convenience store and petroleum industries. He has represented and handled millions of dollars in tobacco and vape tax refunds and assessments for distributors and retailers nationwide.

Ken Sickles is responsible for developing, delivering, and supporting Digimarc’s world-class global technology platform that advances the reach and effectiveness of automatic identification of media across multiple industries. Ken has expertise in products, technology and marketing over 25 years building software-as-a-service (SaaS) products in both the B2B and B2C space. He has helped define, build, and bring multi-sided platforms to market from the ground up, as well as extend platforms currently in the market. He has a passion for using his experience to enable technology to make our world a better place.

Ethan Sill is the Senior Manager of Enthalpy’s Sample Generation department located in Richmond, VA. Ethan has been in the tobacco industry for six years with specialized skills in people management, quality assurance, and client relationship management. His knowledge of linear, rotary, and sidestream smoke machines has been invaluable to improving laboratory efficiency. Ethan has a Bachelors of Science in Biochemistry from Christopher Newport University. He is also an active member of CORESTA, participating in various subgroups including Cigar Smoking Methods, Physical Test Methods, and Smoke Analysis Group.

Jacob (Jake) Hilldrup is a Technical Director of Enthalpy’s chemistry department for nicotine products located in Richmond, VA. Jake has been at Enthalpy for over 7 years and has helped the company expand its capabilities into numerous new product categories including cigars, e-cigarettes, heated tobacco products, and oral pouches. He has extensive experience in project design, new method implementation, adherence to ISO 17025 compliance, and data review of finished results. Jake is also a member of the ISO US (ANSI) Technical Advisory Group as well as CORESTA. He actively contributes to collaborative and proficiency studies while helping form and continuously improve international standards used to test cigarettes, cigars, ENDS, and tobacco products. He has submitted several topics for discussion including cigar analysis and alternative collections for in vitro toxicology testing. Jake has a strong analytical and regulatory background with a bachelor of science in chemistry from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.