Jeffery L Cole ~ Founder & President U.S. Hemp Brokerage LLC
Jeffrey Cole is the owner and founder of US Hemp Brokerage LLC, which he established in order to become the leading professional brokerage firm in the domestic hemp markets. While Jeff formed the company in August of 2018, he has recently nurtured the firm to its official launch on November 1, 2019. He has 7 team members at US Hemp Brokerage and he is based in Boulder County, CO.
Most recently (October 2018 – November 2019), Jeffrey held the position of Director of Program Development with Restorative Botanicals, a leading hemp firm, based in Boulder, CO. While at Restorative, where he accomplished many of his goals, he helped manage the Restorative Botanicals brand products, participated as a leader in the development of the Urban Alchemy brand extension, led the wholesale, broker and direct sales teams and was responsible for the event marketing efforts which include both Natural Product Expos, NOCO, MJ Biz, Southern Hemp Expo, CBD Expos and many others. Additionally, and of paramount priority, Mr. Cole was director of the Restorative Botanicals Private Label programs.Among several major initiatives, his team secured international acclaim for the Restorative Botanicals brand with an advertising campaign in Times Square on New Year’s Eve 2018. This advertising program was brought to Restorative Botanicals by leveraging Jeff’s longstanding relationships and experience in the New York media and advertising industries.
Prior to joining Restorative Botanicals, he held an Executive Manager position at Ft. Lupton based PureHemp Technology LLC, where since 2016, he served as VP of Sales & Marketing for the parent company, Brand Director for Pure Kind Botanicals brand products, and he established the private label offerings for that firm.
All-tolled, Jeffrey Cole has conceived of, managed and/or operated 63 hemp brands through his private label program management. Mr. Cole’s expertise developing and marketing products in the hemp industry has resulted in dozens of hemp-based personal care, health & beauty and hemp food products reaching national markets and beyond.
For over 20 years, Mr. Cole has focused on marketing and brand building in major media channels, sustainability and natural products, with a focus on natural consumers in the top 25 US markets.
Jeffrey is a Colorado native who has worked in natural products in the Denver/Boulder area since 2013, where he served as Advertising Director and senior manager for Boulder Weekly, Best of Boulder and Boulderganic, the leading sustainability magazine serving the Boulder natural product community.
His thought-leadership with the influential Cultural Creative and LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability) consumer groups consistently delivers successful products to the hemp marketplace.
Jill Hodges ~ Creative Director
Jill Hodges is Get Ink PR’s go-to girl when it comes to brand strategy, creative direction and graphic design. Jill’s design roots started in the “dot com” craze as a senior designer for a national magazine conglomerate. She quickly branched out into her own agency venture which included identity work, and web development for brands such as Grandby Ranch, PeaceMaker Whiskey, Pura Vida Fitness and Spa, the Denver Broncos, Children’s Hospital Denver, About.com, and most recently LILT Lounge at the Epic Hotel in Miami.
Demonstrating her talent beyond print, Jill has also been a design assistant on several HGTV shows, including Designed to Sell, Curb Appeal The Block, and helped with the Rachel Ray SoHo studio space. With Get Ink PR she works closely with the team to strategize for their array of luxury clientele, including restaurant, bar, spa, and wellness retail clients producing new logos and branding to grand openings and product lines.
Jeff Webb ~ Technology Director
Jeff Webb is the Technology Directory of US Hemp Brokerage. Jeff’s background is in Graphic Design and Web Development; with a focus on Full Stack Development.
Jeff Webb was raised as an “Army Brat” growing up and traveling around the world from North Carolina to Saudi Arabia. After his own stint in the Army, Jeff settled down in Tampa, Florida where he pursued a entrepreneurial career in Graphic Design and Real Estate redevelopment. After the great real estate market crash of 2008, Jeff ventured into the transportation field and ran his own private transportation company which offered personal drivers to many “A” listers in the Tampa Bay area.
Though the transportation field offered many career perks, Jeff desired to start a new chapter in his life, so at the age of 46 he went through a Full Stack, Web Development Boot camp. Jeff started his career in Web Development at SiteZeus and is excited to be a part of the vision that is US Hemp Brokerage.
When he is not coding, Jeff enjoys spending time camping, hiking, and traveling with his wife and daughter. Jeff is always up for a new adventure, which makes him and US Hemp Brokerage a perfect fit.
William O. Abbott ~ National Sales Director
I am a US Army vet honorably discharged. I served as an N.B.C (Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical) Specialist in the Chemical Corp. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_Corps After the military I became a commercial diver trained in the North and Baltic seas. My specialty was ships husbandry which allowed me to travel and work on 6 of the 7 continents. After living in Antwerp, Belgium working for Hydrex Underwater Technology ( https://hydrex.be/ ) for 2 years I was promoted to Chief Diver, N. America where I coordinated and executed major ship repairs in situ that would normally require a dry docking of the vessel in various ports globally. I also pitched Hydrex services to major shipping company executives globally. I also attained my Captains license registered for 500-ton unlimited with a towing endorsement. I worked as boat captain in the port of Tampa bay completing the transit of various ocean-going vessels placing tankers, barges and other assets into berths throughout the Port of Tampa as port captain. I built and engineered from conception to reality the first mobile extraction for hemp and cannabis in the
country https://www.marijinc.com/ We took a Mayo clinic mobile mammogram laboratory and converted it into a mobile SCFE extraction lab. During this period I worked closely with Eden Labs of Seattle developing what at that time was the their largest high flow extraction machine to date. I was also the first to receive and organic certification from the USDA for organic processing and handling. Upon my arrival to Colorado we traveled to various hemp farms and extracted high quality extract from multiple farms as well as the first certified organic crop in Colorado. This company was also the 3rd applicant for a Florida medicinal license which exposed me to politics and networking required for state policies. International Hemp Exchange https://ihempx.com/ is a platform that was founded to eliminate the bad players in the industry by providing a medium where a vetted buyer and seller could negotiate on a secure platform to create commerce with trusted resources. The Exchange was also used to purvey material ranging from flower to isolate into domestic and international markets. Through the Exchange I was asked to co author a chapter in the book titled “The Cannabis Conundrum” which is currently being sold on several mediums including amazon. https://thecannabisconundrum.com/ The Trichome Institute is an organization the is like a SOMM. Terpening is a course of study that currently has 3 levels of expertise. Currently I am a level 2 terpener that gives the ability to judge floral material like a wine sommelier. Also, this certification allows me to give expert opinions and judgments at cups nationwide. I have been a speaker and a panel member at the largest hemp and cannabis events from supply chains to extraction methodologies in depth about market trends, FDA and the regulations forthcoming via regulation of the hemp industry. Zelios, Erie Colorado. I served as the first plant manager during the critical startup phase where I lead the plant and maintained all equipment and processes. Commissioned and proofed 16 300 ltr Co2 extraction lines. I was instrumental in the writing and formulation of SOPs for compliance, and safety procedures. Zelios is the largest Co2 extraction company on the continent. I was the VP of Business Development for all 3 plants within Zelios. Erie, Colorado, Lexington, Ky, Portland, Oregon, and the latest acquisition of Gemini Extraction which is high throughput cryo ethanol plant located in Erie, Colorado. I have created an extensive network of farmers, processors, and nutraceutical mfg. companies that I can use a s resources, business opportunities and keep track of market trends. My family has been involved in the research and development of cannabinoids a medication since 1900s specifically via the writing of my great grandfather Sir William Osler Abbott in the published works of ‘Sir Oslers Book of Modern Medicine” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Osler where he studied the effect of cannabinoids on the treatment of migraine headaches.
Geoffrey Gorman ~ National Sales Director
Geoffrey is a long time resident of Colorado but originally is from New England. His background includes over two decades of cannabis cultivation. From running indoor warehouses to greenhouses his focus was always on producing the finest medical-grade cannabis for patients. For the past five years, Geoff has shifted focus to industrial hemp. Whether it’s flowering or fibrous hemp, Geoff has always had a passion to help revolutionize these industries with a globally philanthropic mindset.
Kayla Haddix ~ Compliance Team Leader
Kayla is a Hempster with a passion for doing things right. Compliance is full of rules and regulations that can be confusing. These often require an expert in the industry to make sense of, but where do you even begin? In 2017, she found that the booming Hemp industry was in need of compliance experts who could help build a solid model that any business could follow to ease these regulatory nightmares. Since then, Kayla has assisted companies throughout the country build or update compliant facilities custom-tailored to fit the needs of the supplier/consumer as well as meet local and state regulations. Whether it be cannabinoid or Hemp foods processing, Kayla’s passion for doing it right is a quality that shines. With the USDA and FDA now coming on board with Hemp, compliance and regulatory expertise is now more important than ever. Keeping this in mind, Kayla is dedicated to ensuring that businesses and individuals that want to do this right have the resources they need.
Tod Bergler ~ Craft Product Program Design
He has been an integral part of the Cannabis and Hemp movement back to the early nineties. With a history of working on one of the first legalization efforts in Oregon in 1996. Tod has long standing relationships with key figures in the movement and he has been at the forefront of this movement back to its grassroots days.
For over 2 decades, Tod has been a student of Wine and Fine Dining. With this education, he has a unique vision of branding and appealing to consumers. Within the wine industry, he excelled at customer service. As a fine wine purveyor, he learned how to market and sell to a broad-based clientele. With all of this, he can help your brand grow in a very unique and sometimes difficult business environment.