LEADERSHIP

Chief Revenue and Experience Officer
Jess Tyler

Jess leads the team producing MJBizCon, the multiple-award winning trade show that tens of thousands of cannabis professionals attend each fall in Las Vegas. She is a proud member of the Society of Independent Show Organizers (SISO) and the International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE) having earned her Certified in Exhibition Management (CEM) designation. She holds a BA degree from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

EDITORIAL

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
Kate Lavin

Kate is the editorial director. She previously served as editor of MJBizMagazine, which provides tips and actionable advice to marijuana business executives. She brings to the MJBizDaily team more than 20 years of editorial experience, including a decade managing a wine industry trade magazine in California. Kate graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder with a degree in print journalism, and her career has seen her working in newsrooms of daily newspapers across the United States.

MANAGING EDITOR
Kevin "Moose" Huhn

Moose has worked as an editor for several decades at numerous newspapers and websites across the country, including the Rocky Mountain News, the Boulder Daily Camera, the San Jose Mercury News, the Knoxville News-Sentinel and FoxSports.com.

MAGAZINE EDITOR
Omar Sacirbey

Omar has been a professional journalist since 1998, covering everything from international business and Wall Street to politics and religion. His stories have appeared in Newsweek International, The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today and other major outlets. Omar graduated from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1998, and before that, he was a Bosnian diplomat. He is based in Boston.

Reporter
Solomon Israel

Based in Ontario, Canada, Solomon covers the Canadian marijuana industry and cannabis cultivation for MJBizDaily. He previously covered cannabis for the Winnipeg Free Press, where he launched a Canadian cannabis news vertical called The Leaf News. Before that, Solomon covered business news for Canada’s national public broadcaster, CBC News, as an online reporter and a TV news producer. Solomon holds a master’s degree in journalism from Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario.

INTERNATIONAL EDITOR
Matt Lamers

Matt is based in the Greater Toronto Area and covers international cannabis markets for MJBizDaily. Previously, he worked as a business editor, photographer and reporter for newspapers and magazines in three countries, covering everything from the oil and gas industry in northern British Columbia to North Korean defectors in Seoul.

DATA JOURNALIST
Andrew Long
Andrew is a visual and data journalist based in Mesa, Arizona. He previously worked as a news artist at the Arizona Republic, where he developed informational graphics for the newspaper’s front-page team. During that time, he was an adjunct professor at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. In 2012, Andrew co-founded the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting.
Reporter
Kate Robertson

Based in Toronto, Kate has been writing about cannabis for industry-focused publications and mainstream outlets such as The Guardian, The Globe and Mail, Postmedia and Maclean’s since 2017. Before developing a marijuana beat, she was the online and social media manager for alt-weekly NOW Magazine. Kate graduated with a master of arts in journalism from Western University in London, Ontario, in 2008.

Retail and Brands Reporter
Chris Casacchia

Chris Casacchia is an award-winning journalist, editor and media consultant based in Los Angeles. As technology editor of the Orange County Business Journal, he profiled some of the most influential executives and companies in the world. Before moving to California, he served as a staff writer at the Phoenix Business Journal, where he chronicled the subprime mortgage meltdown and global financial crises in one of the hardest hit markets in the nation. His newspaper career began in his native Chicago, covering everything from wrongful convictions to the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. His work has appeared in MSN Money, Los Angeles Business Journal, California Business Journal, The Sporting News and other major outlets. He earned a master’s degree from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, where he served as an adjunct professor.

Reporter
Chris Roberts

Chris has covered cannabis since spending a few months in Humboldt County in 2009, with bylines in The Guardian, VICE, Daily Beast, SF Weekly, Forbes.com, Leafly and many others. He won an investigative reporting award for a Curbed SF series revealing fraud at a radioactive U.S. Navy shipyard in San Francisco. He lives in New York City.