Tony Abboud is an attorney and government affairs expert who represents companies in the tobacco and vapor space and who serves as the Executive Director of the Vapor Technology Association (VTA) – the U.S. based trade association representing the vapor industry. Abboud was instrumental in founding, growing and leading this important national trade organization, which advocates for rational science-based regulations that will enable a diverse and robust nicotine products industry to thrive as well as promoting tobacco harm reduction policies. Abboud has extensive experience in law, public policy, government and politics. He has represented companies on legal and regulatory issues for more than 25 years, and has advised and consulted with companies in the tobacco and vapor industries on regulatory issues for more than a decade. Among many other things, as the Executive Director of VTA, he crafted VTA’s successful multi-faceted strategic campaign to stop President Trump’s vapor-only full flavor ban from being enacted in 2020. In his work as a state lobbyist, Abboud developed and implemented successful strategies for companies facing simultaneous multi-state legislative challenges in the vapor industry and in the tobacco industry. Abboud is recognized as a leading voice for essential regulations and a balanced discussion of vapor products. He is a frequent speaker at national symposiums and has been extensively quoted in the media, including national print, television and radio.

Abboud left the international law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP in 2010 to found his consulting firm, Strategic Government Solutions, which focuses on companies and associations in heavily regulated industries, including the tobacco and vapor industries. He has a unique blend of grassroots organizing, political campaign, governmental service, private sector representation and legal experiences to draw on when crafting effective lobbying and communications strategies. Tony lives near Chicago with his wife, a former Cook County prosecutor, and their three children. Tony earned his B.A. in Political Science from Carleton College in 1988 and his J.D. with distinction from the University of Iowa College of Law in 1994.

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.

Matthew Jason Nordgren is an ambitious executive, dedicated philanthropist, and accomplished athlete who brings a unique passion for creating strategic alliances. He brings breadth and depth of experience in finance, corporate development, and capital sourcing, as well as in building highly motivated teams of skilled professionals.

In 2005, Mr. Nordgren received his education at the University of Texas at Austin, while playing football for the Texas Longhorns football team.  As a quarterback on a National Championship winning team, he developed skills that would be carried through his lifetime and core business philosophies. While playing football on scholarship for The University of Texas, he was able to graduate with two degrees in less than four years and was accepted into and pursued a dual master’s degree program at the University of Dallas. After playing professionally briefly with the Detroit Lions and Philadelphia Eagles, Mr. Nordgren went on to earn two additional master’s degrees in both business and sports management from the University of Dallas. He was subsequently featured on the Bravo TV show “Most Eligible Dallas,” while becoming a partner in the family business, NORDCO, Inc., a Dallas-based energy firm.  This is also when he helped to develop, manage and build his first private equity/family office business with a sports and media focus which lead to a career in running various investment vehicles across a broad spectrum of strategies.

Throughout his career, Mr. Nordgren has been appointed to many executive leadership positions at a wide-ranging group of companies and industries. From real estate to sports and entertainment, from hospitality to insurance and financial services, from emerging industries to later stage leveraged buy outs, he is singularly focused on finding synergistic opportunities in early stage private growth rounds that have upside potential.  He is committed to successfully helping manage the overall financial state of his partners businesses and the companies with which he and his partners have interests within.

Mr. Nordgren is currently CEO and Founder of ARCADIAN Fund and ARCADIAN Capital Management, a venture fund/private equity strategy focused on the ancillary service providing companies in and around the cannabis and hemp industries.  More specifically, on Series A/B type opportunities where proven businesses are looking for growth equity to continue scaling into new markets.  He was recently name one of the “Top 100 Most Influential People in the Cannabis Industry” by High Times Magazine and ranked number 3 globally by Business Insider in terms of investment companies focused on the emerging cannabis and hemp sectors. Additionally, he is the founder of Nordco Consulting LLC, a private consulting firm dedicated to the business development of middle market companies with forward-thinking vision. To date, Mr. Nordgren has personally been involved with over $7 billion in transactions and maintains a portfolio of approximately 30 plus companies.

Samy Hamdouche is a co-founder and Chief Operating Officer at Lucy. Prior to Lucy, he helped to build a number of companies in the biopharmaceuticals industry, including Avidity Biosciences and Kura Oncology. He is a scientist by training, and received his Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biophysics from Caltech.

David Renteln is a co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at Lucy. He started Lucy during his attempt to quit smoking, when he first became aware of what is now called the continuum of risk, and the public health potential of reduced harm products. Prior to Lucy, he was a co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer at Soylent, a nutrition and food technology company.

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…

George Cassels-Smith is the CEO of Tobacco Technology, Inc., e-LiquiTech and Emerald Green
Technology. He was appointed TTI CEO in 2003 after a successful run in Sales and as its Senior
Vice President. A hands-on CEO, George focuses on the future of nicotine delivery.

Having literally grown up in the tobacco industry, George accompanied his father (TTI founder
Duke Cassels-Smith) to tobacco auctions as a child. He is a 1992 graduate of the University of
Maryland and holds a B.S. in Business Administration. He has worked in the industry his entire
career in purchasing, flavor development and sales. George’s first formal job in the tobacco
industry came as a leaf buyer for Dannemann (part of the Burger Söhne Group) based in Cruz das
Salmas, Bahia, Brazil in the early 90's. After moving back to the US he worked for Hail and
Cotton before joining the family business, Tobacco Technology, Inc.

George has taken Tobacco Technology, Inc from a traditional tobacco flavoring company to a
state-of-the-art scientific and innovative enterprise while expanding its focus beyond tobacco; in
2016 he started E-LiquiTech, a subsidiary dedicated to developing and manufacturing premium
quality e-liquids. This year he established his newest endeavor, Emerald Green Technology. This
TTI subsidiary is dedicated to taking the cannabinoid industry to new and higher levels.
George remains focused on the future of the industry while dedicating time and resources to
provide cleaner nicotine delivery alternatives.

Dr. Antony Jones is a managing consultant at Broughton with over twenty-two years of multidisciplinary consulting experience preparing and critically assessing a broad range of toxicological, microbial and epidemiological studies. Dr. Jones has conducted human health risk assessments of multiple Electronic Nicotine Delivery systems (ENDS) and other tobacco products for inclusion in FDA Pre-Market Tobacco Applications (PMTA). He also has experience conducting ecological and microbial risk assessments, preparing regulatory submissions and communicating results to clients, community stakeholders and governmental agencies.

Elizabeth Becker serves as a Senior Director in Population Science within the Regulatory Sciences organization at Altria Client Services. In this role, she leads a team of scientists who conduct tobacco perception and behavior research in support of regulatory submissions to the FDA.

Previously, Elizabeth served as Director, Corporate Responsibility for Altria Client Services where she was accountable for strategies and programs including environmental sustainability and underage tobacco prevention. Since joining the Altria family of companies in 2005, Elizabeth has held a variety of corporate affairs, innovation, and corporate responsibility roles within Altria Client Services.

Elizabeth received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University and her M.B.A. from the University of Massachusetts.

Andrea Patton, PhD is a Senior Behavioural Epidemiologist who leads the prevalence research team within the Centre for Substance Use Research Ltd (CSUR), Glasgow, United Kingdom. Andrea has over 15 years of experience working in public health in the United Kingdom for academia, regulatory bodies and industry.

Derek Yach is a global public health leader with deep experience based on years of work for WHO, leading corporations including PepsiCo, investment funds, academia (as Professor of Global Health at Yale), and not-for-profit organizations such as the Rockefeller and Smoke Free Foundations. His focus in these diverse settings has been to lead initiatives with impact on chronic diseases and their risks, and on mental health. Looking forward, he believes that governments, industry and investors need to give far greater focus to the health of adults as the pandemic recedes if we are to build more resilient and productive populations. He has focused on ways to implement harm reduction strategies within the context of substance abuse, tobacco control and food and nutrition policy. He has degrees in medicine and public health.

Dr. William Jackson, PhD is a chemist who studied at Imperial College and MIT. Subsequently, he worked for 10 years in medicinal chemistry research followed by 10 years developing processes in the generic pharmaceutical industry. Since 2000 Dr. Jackson has been working in contract R&D for a variety of clients and, since 2017, with he has worked with Zanoprima Lifesciences, where he is now the Director of Development and Manufacturing.

Tessa works closely with clients to enhance their productivity, protect their products and build loyalty with customers by designing industry 4.0 and connected packaging strategies. Due to her significant contributions in this area, she received the award for Digital Growth and Innovation from Dover Corporation in 2020. She sits on the Board of Directors of the Customer Experience Graduate Program at Seton Hall University, New Jersey; and holds an MBA in Finance from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.