Over 60 Years of Regulated Cannabis Experience
The Why
The cannabis and hemp industries are far more complex, fragmented, and capital intensive than most entrepreneurs anticipate. The transition or scaling up to commercial production from a smaller clandestine and black market operations presents many challenges, process changes, HR needs, but most important opportunities. However, without proper market insight, team, and a comprehensive, well-thought-out plan; it’s much easier to lose all or part of your investment than see a return.
Catalyst brings together a team of industry experts with decades of experience and a verifiable track record of performance and several successful exits over the past 14 years, including a 9 figure transaction. Our team leverages a true passion for the plant, years of hands-on operational knowledge to help you avoid catastrophic pitfalls to guide and sherpa you through the gauntlet of funding, designing, building, and operating a profitable cannabis or hemp business; we call this “planning to win”. From aspirational to operational, Catalyst supports you when and where you need it most.
We have helped secure 57+ licenses for cultivation, manufacturing, and retail dispensaries.
Meet the Catalyst BC Team
Catalyst BC brings together a team of dynamic business professionals and cannabis and hemp pioneers.
Ian Miller
Chief Executive Officer
Ian Miller is a serial entrepreneur whose professional, educational, and personal experiences have helped shape his career and positioned him as a striking leader in the cannabis industry. His journey to and through the cannabis space began with his formal education, having completed his Bachelor of Arts degree in Architectural Design, with a concentration in accounting, and went on to complete his Master of Science degree in Building Construction, both from the University of Florida. Ian also co-created the Molecular Genetics degree path at the University of Florida’s Honor College and through the conceiving of the program, gained an intensive background in genetics, horticulture, and accounting.
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After college, Ian found great success in managing ultra-high-end construction projects in the Miami Beach area, executing extremely complex projects up to $18,000 per square meter. After a variety of increasing-responsibility positions in the construction industry, including founding two successful construction firms, Ian joined Merchant Services LTD as a Vice President and Macro-Procurement Specialist. In this position, Ian maintained all external and internal sales and marketing relationships across over 300 points of contact and provided training and support for the company and organization-wide sales efforts. As Macro-Procurement Specialist, Ian assisted internal and external business procurement to include all referral partners and the acquisition of merchant business from $5 million to $2 billion annually.
Ian then went on to join the Alpha (founding) Team of Loop, Inc., now known as Samsung Pay. At Loop, Ian ran a hugely successful Kickstarter-based crowdfunding campaign as well as providing the design, consulting, and initial fabrication of the physical form factor, which, in large part, is responsible for the company’s success in the consumer market. During this time, Ian and a partner also brought the world’s only serial-production carbon-fiber yacht manufacturer from Sweden to North America, successfully integrating cross-cultural and cross-Atlantic teams for a successful enterprise.
Ian entered the cannabis industry as Founder and CEO of the Solace Companies, a wholesale-vertically-integrated unlimited cannabis licensee in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ian worked tirelessly in raising $22 million in private equity to develop a greenfield, bespoke cannabis cultivation and processing operation, including advanced predictive current control (PCC) and predictive torque control (PTC), as well as highly advanced extraction and manufacturing technologies. The Solace Companies received the only ever flawless license-activation inspections in the state, won Best Operator and Best Concentrate only seven months after initiating operations, and continues to serve as the benchmark for “pharma-grade” medical and adult-use cannabis production in the state.
As Chief Executive Officer of Catalyst BC, Ian will combine his professional experiences of exceeding goals, entrepreneurship, operations, and strategic success with his aspirations to provide fulfilling jobs and support the local community to ensure the ongoing ingenuity of, and innovation by Catalyst BC in the ever-expanding and evolving cannabis industry.
Michael Williamson
Chief Operating Officer
Michael currently serves as Director of Cultivation for Pipp Horticulture and Chief Operating Officer for Catalyst BC. Michael is a legacy licensed cannabis operator and pioneer in vertical farming. After graduating from the University of Central Florida with a focus in Biology and Neurology, Michael worked as a consultant for Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals for eight years, coaching and mentoring newly diagnosed Multiple Sclerosis patients. Recognizing the medicinal benefits of cannabis, Michael relocated to Denver, Colorado, in 2009 and co-founded and operated Kind Love, an award-winning vertically integrated cannabis company that included 95,000 square feet of indoor cultivation, extraction, commercial kitchen, and a retail dispensary serving both medical and adult-use cannabis.
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In 2013, Michael co-founded Greenhaus Industries, where he and his team developed and patented several cultivation trays designed for various cultivation strategies that could be stacked, allowing cultivators to maximize space by growing on multiple tiers. Pipp Horticulture acquired Greenhaus Industries in 2018. From 2016-2017, Michael served as Director of Operations for FLRish Inc. & Harborside Farms, a 47-acre farm in Salinas, California, with 217,800 sq. ft. of controlled-environment greenhouse cultivation.
Michael has designed and consulted on over 7 million sq. ft. of indoor, greenhouse, and outdoor cultivation facilities in the United States, Canada, Colombia, Australia, and Switzerland. Furthermore, Michael has 25,000+ hours in cultivation and dispensary operations, including over 3,000 compliant harvests and counting. Michael is GAP certified from Cornell University and an advocate for LEAN Farming and Manufacturing. As Chief Operating Officer of Catalyst BC, Michael fuses his development knowledge and operation experience to provide full-scale support and strategy to emerging and existing cannabis operations.
Leif Olsen
Chief Marketing Officer
With over 14 years of owner-operator-advisor experience working with plant-touching and ancillary businesses, Leif Olsen has become a seasoned and globally sought-after cannabis application & licensing specialist, operations expert, and a seasoned entrepreneur, focusing on retail, distribution, F&B, services, manufacturing, and real estate sectors.
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Leif began his career in the cannabis industry in 2008. He co-founded, operated, and successfully exited Kind Love, one of Colorado’s first and most successful medical and adult-use cannabis companies. Since owning and operating the vertically integrated operation, Leif has logged over 20,000 hours of hands-on operational experience and advised on more than 5 million sq. ft. of cultivation, manufacturing, and retail operations.
In 2015, identifying an emerging demand for operational experience, innovative solutions, and genetic advancements, Leif co-founded Catalyst BC, a cannabis advisement firm that guides partners through the gauntlet of conceptualizing, funding, designing, building, and operating a profitable cannabis or hemp business. During the first year of operations, Leif helped a client obtain one of Maryland’s first fifteen cultivation and dispensary licenses. Since then, the team has helped secure more than 46 licenses for cultivation, manufacturing, and retail dispensaries in 8 states, including some of the most competitive and rigorous application processes to date.
Together with Catalyst BC, Leif and partners have developed multiple ancillary companies, such as Allele/303 Seeds, a genetics service and solutions company with an extensive portfolio of proven and proprietary cultivars, and Greenhaus Industries, the first commercial vertical cannabis cultivation company. Greenhaus Industries was acquired by Pipp Horticulture in 2018, creating the industry-leading vertical farming solution with over 2,500 grow rooms worldwide. In addition to his ancillary endeavors, Leif was Supply Chain Manager for FLRish Inc. and Harborside Health, one of the most prominent medical and adult-use cannabis dispensaries in the United States.
As Business Development for Pipp Horticulture and Chief Marketing Officer of Catalyst BC, Leif combines industry experience, Lean methodologies, and heart-based leadership to serve prospective operators, startups, and publicly traded LPs and MSOs in existing and emerging markets through a unique Kaizen-like approach that drives continuous consumer-focused improvement while maintaining regulatory compliance. Leif’s passion for cannabis-based treatments and products that improve others’ lives provides the fuel to continue to lead individuals, teams, and companies through the ever-evolving gauntlet of the cannabis industry.
Leif is happily married to his best friend of 18 years, with whom he shares a daughter, Olive. Leif was born and raised in Northern Virginia, graduated with a BS in Marketing from Clemson University, spent 13 years in Denver, two years in Santa Cruz, and currently resides with his family in Virginia Beach.
Eric Forington
Director of Genetics & Breeding
With over 20 years of cultivation experience, Eric Forington brings an immense amount of ingenuity, expertise, and passion to the Catalyst BC team in his role as Director of Genetics & Breeding. Eric has successfully bred cannabis varietals for over a decade, with over half of that time focused on developing genetics for state-licensed medicinal and recreational markets.
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In 2011, Eric founded 303 Seeds, one of the first legally-licensed seed companies in his home state of Colorado. At 303 Seeds, Eric has focused efforts on operational procedures for plant propagation and pollination in highly-sensitive and controlled environments, as well as overseen the execution of those procedures at multiple licensed cultivation facilities across Colorado. Today, 303 Seeds is headquartered in Boulder, Colorado and has expanded operations into numerous legal states across the country. Because of its repeated ground-breaking genetic developments in both medicinal and recreational industries, it remains at the forefront of cannabis genetics in the United States.
In 2012, after more than a decade and countless hours of cannabis R&D, Eric shifted his focus from the psychoactive cannabinoid compound THC to also include non-psychoactive cannabinoids including CBD, CBG, CBC, and CBN. His breeding work and developed genetics, which have won several cannabis industry awards, have boasted some of the highest lab-tested CBD and CBG plant specimens known in the cannabis market. Eric has also worked to develop industrial hemp varietals, secured by the University of Colorado as part of their Cannabis Genomic Research Initiative.
Beyond his expertise and experience in breeding and genetics development, Eric also possesses a heightened acuity in project development and management, sales and marketing operations, and compliance. As Director of Genetics & Breeding, Eric will implement and expand his already vast skillset in horticulture, medicinal and recreational cannabis markets and business development. By bringing a diverse and established a portfolio of tested, premium cannabis and hemp genetics to his position, he will allow the Catalyst BC team to continue to distinguish clients as cannabis leaders in their legal state.
Andy Schnack
Operations Advisor
Andy Schnack currently serves as an Operations Advisor and Project Manager for Catalyst-BC. Andy graduated from The University of Alabama in 2009 where he majored in Criminal Justice and was a member of the Crimson Tide Swim team. After graduating from Alabama, Andy attended Valparaiso University School of Law but struggled to treat nerve complications from a swimming injury. After diligent research and support from his doctor, Andy made the life-changing decision to leave Law School and move to California, where he had safe access to medical cannabis. Here, Andy dove head first into the cannabis industry and began an exploration into cultivation, extraction, and infusion.
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In 2013, Andy utilized his experience in California to begin his professional cannabis career at Kind Love, the premier medical cannabis dispensary in Denver, Colorado. Here, Andy specialized in patient care, compliance, and inventory control. Andy parted ways with Kind Love in 2015 to fulfill his dream of opening a dispensary in his hometown of Quincy, IL. Andy helped establish Herbal Remedies Dispensary alongside his partners by overseeing the entire application process through to successful licensure and earning the state’s first perfect licensing-inspection score. Since its founding in 2015, Herbal Remedies Dispensary has become one of Illinois’s fastest-growing and top-rated dispensaries – priding itself in customer service and education. In 2016 Andy joined the Good to Great Management team as Project Manager and Content Developer. He utilized both his management and writing skills to assist on client projects that would lead to successful licensing in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Florida.
In 2017 Andy was recruited by Harborside Farms in California, where he collaborated with software engineers to beta-test and successfully develop a brand-new seed-to-sale tracking software. Andy developed and trained an inventory control department and onboarded the software to compliantly track over 150,000 plants and 4,000 lb. harvests in real-time. In 2018, Andy Rejoined the Good to Great Management Team as the Project manager and Operations Advisor for the parent company Catalyst BC. Andy’s education and diverse background have helped him excel in developing detailed standard operating procedures, employee training manuals, and data analysis programs to optimize operational efficiency.
With a background in the American legal system and a technical mind, compliance and attention to detail come naturally to Andy. As a project manager and operations advisor, Andy aims to continue feeding his passion for helping others and positively impacting as many lives as possible through cannabis.
Laura Anderson
Operations Manager
Laura Anderson began her professional career in the electronic discovery legal field, where for nearly a decade, she progressed from providing project management for hundreds of internal projects to the document management of numerous cases for law firms nationwide. While seeing to the operational needs of the Denver location where she worked, Laura also trained managers for various other locations, including Phoenix and Portland. Laura received multiple awards of excellence for her operational prowess and work ethic, including the Above and Beyond Award, after having been nominated by her management.
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In 2015, Laura was approached by the former owners and founders of Kind Love, a premier vertically integrated medical cannabis organization in Denver, to join their consulting and management firm, Good to Great Management. The firm assists clients nationwide with their full-spectrum needs in the cannabis industry, from startup, licensure, staff training, facility design, financial modeling, and productivity optimization. Laura was initially hired to take on the administrative and accounting needs of the company as the Business Manager, but soon also took on the role of overseeing project management for several clients, including a winning dispensary and cultivation application in Maryland .
As the firm expanded, Laura became the Operations Manager for Catalyst BC, where she continues to manage the operational needs of the entire suite of ancillary cannabis companies under the Catalyst BC umbrella. In this position, Laura excels at her numerous duties, which include all accounting needs, such as bookkeeping, taxes, AP/AR reporting, financial modeling, and forecasting, assisting in license application projects for clients by organizing all parties responsible for the application as well as managing expectations and timelines and coordinating numerous vendors used across the Catalyst BC platform. Laura works closely with all six owners under the Catalyst BC umbrella and continues to develop internal processes to ensure the success and coordination of all Catalyst BC companies.
Committed to the betterment of her community, Laura has remained involved with numerous non-profit organizations from an early age. Most notably amongst her volunteer work is holding an active chair on the Patient Advisory Board- UC Health Anschutz WISH, assisting on Habitat for Humanity housing builds, planning, and event development for multiple fundraisers for CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children), and overseeing a companywide toy drive for Children’s Hospital Colorado.
Roy Cantrell, Ph.D.
Scientific Advisor
With almost four decades of experience as a plant breeder in both the public and private sectors, Roy Cantrell brings immense expertise and sought-after specialty to his role as Scientific Advisor at Catalyst BC. His career began on his family farm in Texas and has taken him around the world. Through international experience, he has gained insight and diversified expertise in plant breeding, international and digital agriculture, environmental science and sustainability. As a published writer, Roy has co-authored 5 book chapters and 77 scientific papers on various aspects of plant genetics and breeding. He has also assisted in the development and public release of 15 cotton varieties, 11 cotton germplasm lines or genetic stocks, and three wheat cultivars.
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Roy worked for Monsanto for over a decade and held various roles including Cotton Discovery & Molecular Breeding Lead, Global Cotton Breeding Lead, and most recently Global Breeding Outreach & Partnerships Lead. In these roles, Roy championed the modernization of North American and Indian breeding programs, led the transition to Single Seed Descent (SSD), and launched multiple Root Knot Nematode (RKN) resistant varieties. Roy also led the successful germplasm transition from BollGard 2 Roundup Ready Flex to Bollgard 2 Xtend Flex, while sustaining genetic gain for yield and fiber quality. In his role as Global Breeding Outreach & Partnership Lead, Roy led outreach efforts in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on Genetic Improvement of Tropical Legumes in Africa, Borlaug Training Foundation, and the Monsanto Beachell-Borlaug International Scholars Program.
The ongoing passion for advanced topics such as Global Breeding Management, Genetics and Society, Breeding Methodology (Optimizing Genetic Gain), Molecular Breeding and Germplasm Diversity and Introgression has continued to fuel Roy’s global influence. In 2000, Roy was one of the framers and founders of the International Cotton Genome Initiative (ICGI).
Roy has taught numerous graduate and undergraduate courses in Plant Genetics, Genetics & Society, and Plant Breeding, as well as trained multiple Ph.D., MS and Post-Doctoral students in Plant Breeding. His education includes a BS in Crop Science from Texas Tech University, an MS in Plant Breeding and Genetics as well as a Ph.D. in Plant Breeding and Genetics from the University of Minnesota, St. Paul.
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