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Highlighted Members

Member Spotlight – March 8, 2018

First I wanted to thank the volunteers that helped us staff The Cannabis Alliance
Booth at Cannacon. We had more than 15 volunteers over 3 days spreading the
Alliance Message at our booth. We also had members that had their own booths
and sent people over to The Alliance Booth to learn more about us. We are very
grateful for all of these efforts to help us spread the Cannabis Alliance message
far and wide. Our booth was packed all the time. We were networking and
members stopping by and getting to know each other, we had fun and I heard a
lot of new ideas, business collaboration, joy and enthusiasm as our industry
continues to evolve. So thank you to everyone that volunteered to help us and to
our members that brought over their giveaway items and marketing materials so
attendees could see the diversity of our membership.

I want to thank: Keith Boyce, Adjunct Board Member for basically camping at the
booth for 3 days and doing an awesome job setting it up, and breaking it all down
and packing it all out. I want to thank our volunteers Courtney Flores, Steve
Brown, Allison Brown, David Zarate, Vito Perillo, Neomosha Nelson, Greg
Matthews, Courtney Braswell, Taylor Best, Stuart Bennett, Morgan Kristine,
Pamela Hale, Pam Haley, Mimi Fleury, Richard Sowa, Eric Boone, Aaron Hale and
Carl Schoenleber and our staff helped out too including Julia Lee, Lara Kaminsky
and me. Did I miss any of our CannaCon volunteers?

OK let’s give all of our volunteers a BIG Alliance Thank you!

And now I have an exciting new volunteer opportunity announcement – we will
have a booth at Seattle’s 27 th annual Hempfest this summer. This is a fabulous
opportunity to promote the Alliance to a different audience. We will be
coordinating volunteers very soon so this is your “Save the Date” announcement.
Hempfest will be August 17-18-19, 2018 (Friday, Saturday and Sunday).

OK so now it is time for: The Cannabis Alliance Members Spotlight!

First up we have our New Member:

Group Benefits Northwest:

http://www.thecannabisalliance.us/groupbenefitsnw | https://www.groupbenefitsnw.com/

So where are Steve, Allison and Courtney from Group Benefits Northwest? Could
you wave so everyone knows where you are?

Healthcare is complicated and Group Benefits Northwest is here to help.

Group Benefits Northwest is a benefits and health insurance broker for small to
midsized companies. Family owned and operated, they have proudly served
Seattle and surrounding area businesses, since 1982. Group Benefits Northwest
leverages over 30 years of business, management and group benefits experience
to provide the very best healthcare plans available to meet employer and
employee needs.

Group Benefits Northwest is a trusted insurance brokerage company serving small
and midsize businesses throughout Seattle and the North Puget Sound, as it has
done for the last 35 years. By representing top companies in the insurance field,
Group Benefits Northwest is able to work with these major organizations to help
businesses provide the best programs for their employees. Founder, Steve Brown,
is joined by two of his children, Allison Brown and Courtney Flores providing
group benefits such as medical, dental, vision, disability income, life insurance and
executive benefit plans. Together they have developed working relationships with
key service providers to further support their clients’ business needs. These
include accounting, legal, payroll as well as all the benefit compliance services i.e.
COBRA , HSA, HRA, FSA including Section 125/cafeteria plans.

Let’s give Group Benefits Northwest a warm Alliance welcome!

Next we have our Long-term member:

Keith Boyce, Northwest Cannabis Zone and Alliance Adjunct Board Member

So I asked Keith a few questions about his interest in the cannabis industry and
involvement with the Cannabis Alliance and here is the scoop:

1) Why did you join The Cannabis Alliance?

Keith said it was a journey that started in 2013, and before he knew it he was one
of the founders and the President of the non-profit Washington Marijuana
Association (WMA). We had people lobbying in Olympia and working closely with
the leaders of other organizations including the Coalition for Cannabis Standards
an Ethics (CCSE), Cause-M, and Northwest Producers Processors & Retailers
(NWPPR). Our similar work, connections and relationships had us realize we all
wanted the same thing for the cannabis industry. So we merged and the Cannabis
Alliance was born.

2) What inspired you to become involved in The Cannabis Industry?

Keith’s inspiration came from what he suspects was the same as many others.
Due to some pain issues he decided to talk to his family doctor and he became a
cannabis patient. The results were better than he expected. He quickly realized
how the lies of our government had negatively influenced and incarcerated
multiple generations around the world. Keith felt this plant was an amazing gift
to us all. And Keith wants to be part of the generation that corrects the history of
the past and helps shape how this industry will turn out in the future. Keith love’s
The Alliance Mission and he is dedicated to the Advancement of a Vital, Ethical
and Sustainable cannabis industry.

3) What is one thing you would want our members to know about you and/or
your business?

So he loves music, movies, and spending time at home with his beautiful family.
During the day he works in distribution. He reps and distributes almost 80 brands
of consumer electronics and automation products including LED lighting and
security cameras. He also owns a website called www.NWcannabis.zone It is a
news aggregator where he compiles news stories about cannabis in the Pacific
Northwest. After I-502 was approved he spent quite a bit of time jumping around
the internet trying to learn about cannabis, and he found it very frustrating. He
thought it would be a good idea to try and put everything together in one place
and so Northwest Cannabis Zone was born.

4) How does being educated about cannabis help you succeed and serve in this
industry?”

The education provided by The Cannabis Alliance, and other sources helps Keith
discuss cannabis with others outside of our industry. Those discussions help in
dispelling the many myths that have surrounded cannabis for so long. The more
people know, the less they will fear.

Keith’s website is Northwest Cannabis Zone. NWCannabis.Zone, it is a local source
for Cannabis news. Since 2012, Washington State has been working toward
implementing I-502, when the voters approved an initiative that legalized
Marijuana for adult recreational use. One of the problems Keith discovered was
the difficulty in finding news and information. It was all out there, but in order to
find it you had to scour the web, local papers, and other various sources for the
most up to date and relevant news. So NWCannabis.Zone was born, with a goal
to help bring all the local news and information to you in one easy to find
location.

Let’s give Keith Boyce a warm thank you!

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