Marijuana Hits the Shores
of Guam and CNMI Virtual Seminar
The District Court of Guam, District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands, the Guam Bar Association and the CNMI Bar Association are pleased to announce another CLE Virtual Seminar opportunity, entitled “Marijuana Hits the Shores of Guam & CNMI” on Friday, September 17, 2021 from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. ChST. This seminar is part of an ongoing Bankruptcy Series.
Topics Covered:
- Tourism impacts by the marijuana industry
- Risks and benefits for the marijuana business
- Medical vs. Recreational Consumption
- Legal complexities for attorneys
- Criminal, Banking, Tax and Bankruptcy consequences
CLE Credits:
Two (2.0) total Continuing Legal Education (CLE) Credits are available to attorneys, comprising of 1.5 General Credits and 0.5 Ethics Credits.
Cost: $100.00 for GBA Members (standard CLE rate, $50 per 1.0 CLE credit)
Registration:
Registration is now open via the GBA Members’ Dashboard Events Portal.
Click Here to Register.
NOTE: Registration will close at 11:59 PM ChST, Thursday, September 16, 2021.
BANKRUPTCY SEMINAR PRESENTER BIOGRAPHIES
JUDGE DANIEL P. COLLINS (MODERATOR) was appointed a Judge of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Arizona, effective as of January 18, 2013. He served as the Chief Bankruptcy Judge for the District of Arizona from March 2014 to March 2018. Immediately prior to taking the bench, he was a shareholder of the law firm of Collins, May, Potenza, Baran & Gillespie, P.C., located in Phoenix, Arizona. He received a B.S. in finance and accounting (1980) and J.D. (1983) from the University of Arizona.
Dan is presently on the 9th Circuit’s Bankruptcy Education Committee, is the Education Chair for the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, will be NCBJ’s President in 2022-3, is a member of the Board of Directors of the American Bankruptcy Institute, is on ABI’s Education Committee and Diversity Committee, is on the Board of the Phoenix Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, is a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy and is a member of the University of Arizona Law School’s Board of Visitors. He is a founding member of the Arizona Bankruptcy American Inn of Court. Dan and his wife Roseanne raised their 5 children in Phoenix, Arizona.
VANESSA L. WILLIAMS, ESQ. has been in private practice in Guam for over 10 years, with a focus on civil litigation. She has served as the Chairperson of the Cannabis Control Board of Guam since its inception in April 2019.
MITCHELL KAHN has demonstrated a successful track record of business management and entrepreneurship over his thirty-year career. In 2014, after Illinois passed its medical cannabis program, Kahn co-founded Grassroots Cannabis (“GR”), a company that grows, processes and sells cannabis through its vertically integrated business model in order to provide safe and efficacious cannabinoid products to consumers.
With Kahn in the role of CEO, the company grew to thirteen states with more than 60 licenses and more than 1100 employees, making it the largest private multi-state operator in the United States. Grassroots continues to rapidly expand its footprint and develop the company’s portfolio to address the key medical, wellness and adult-use market sectors. Kahn recently led the largest merger in the cannabis space, merging Grassroots with the largest public company, Curaleaf in an almost $1B transaction. Mitch now sits on the Curaleaf Board of Directors.
Mitch also serves as Co-Founder and Chairman of Frontline Real Estate Partners, a Chicago-based real estate investment and advisory company with expertise in the acquisition, development, management, disposition and leasing of commercial real estate properties throughout the United States with a focus on the Midwest. Founded in 2010, Frontline invests in value-add properties and provides transactional and advisory services to banks, financial institutions and owners with a focus on the real estate restructuring industry. The company has acquired properties valued at more than $125,000,000 and has built a successful brokerage and property management business currently managing more than two million square feet of properties.
Prior to forming Frontline, Kahn co-founded and served as President and CEO of Hilco Real Estate, one of the country’s leading real estate restructuring, disposition valuation and appraisal firms. During his tenure, Kahn grew Hilco Real Estate from a startup subsidiary of the Hilco Organization into a company with more than 30 employees and annual revenues in excess of $15,000,000.
Prior to joining Hilco, Kahn served as Senior Vice President of Sportmart, a retail sporting goods chain. During his tenure, Sportmart grew from 20 stores to 70 retail locations throughout the United States and Canada before the company merged with Gart Sports. Mitch graduated from the University of Wisconsin and Northwestern University Law School and is actively involved in numerous charitable and community organizations, as well as serving as the Chairman of the Board of Fyllo, a MarTech startup in the cannabis space.
MILTON MORINAGA has worked in the tourism industry for over 40 years and has substantial experience in the management of all areas in hotel operations. His career began in 1974 when he became Acting General Manager for a small hotel in Honolulu, Hawaii. He moved on to serve in various managerial positions in 1979 for large U.S. hotel chains such as the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Hawaii and Saipan.
He also served in different managerial and executive positions with the Southern Pacific Hawaii Corporation in 1989 to open, manage and operate a resort on the Big Island of Hawaii. He also spent time managing 688 acres of private golf courses and other hotel, residential and commercial properties. In 2000, Morinaga transitioned to W.B. Kukio Resorts LLC, where he worked as the Hospitality Project Construction Manager for W.B. Kukio Resorts, LLC. He was involved in the development of a luxury hotel and two golf courses. His position also involved negotiating with various government agencies and developing a community outreach. From Hawaii, Morinaga relocated to Guam in 2004 and became the Owner’s Representative for the Hyatt Regency Guam until the hotel was sold in 2007. He then took a position as an Asset Manager, then Managing Director, and now is a Senior Advisor with P.H.R. Ken Micronesia, Inc. and P.H.R. Micronesia, Inc. (“PHRM”).
He has served in the Guam Visitors Bureau Board of Directors for several years to share his experience and knowledge to better the island community. He served as the board chairman at GVB in 2017 and is again serving in the same capacity this year. Currently he serves as a Guam Chambers of Commerce Board of Directors, Employer’s Council Board of Directors, FBI Citizens Academy Alumni Association Vice President, and in 2013 awarded with Honorary Deputy Chief of Police for Guam Police Department. Morinaga went to school in Hawaii and Japan and is fluent in both English and Japanese. He enjoys riding motorcycles in his free time.