Month: August 2022

Andrew Hatch has an extensive background in agricultural science, including nearly all parts of cannabis production, as well as cannabis-specific research, plant pathology, plant tissue culture, and plant breeding. He previously owned Rikki's Tropicals, a Colorado nursery dedicated to the conservation of endangered orchid species. He is a frequent lecturer at universities and botanic gardens, and actively mentors students in the fields of agricultural and horticultural science.

Mr. Hatch also previously directed research in the Scientific Operations department for Native Roots, a large vertically integrated cannabis dispensary chain. In this role, he led a team of scientists, driving process optimization, ensuring product safety, maximizing yields, developing high-throughput tissue culture protocols, and creating continuing education classes and training tools. The team also maintained a plant pathology lab for crop protection.

"Product risk in cannabis is still little understood by many operators in our industry, but it can cause serious human illness, loss of license, and cripple or destroy an unprepared business," said Andrew Hatch.

Mr. Hatch earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Soil and Crop Sciences: Plant Biotechnology, Genetics, and Breeding from Colorado State University, and resides in Fort Collins.

"NCRPS has long represented that product risk was the leading threat to the projected cannabis market sustainability," said Rocco Petrilli, president, and CEO of NCRPS. "Although it was always a major portion of our assessment and education process, the addition of Andrew to our team now allows for a focused approach which gives this risk the attention it deserves."

Mr. Hatch's addition strengthens NCRPS's existing team, which also includes Ian Stewart, an attorney with the Wilson Elser law firm, who is a thought leader in cannabis product risk avoidance and defense.

"Andrew has a rare combination of subject matter expertise, including botany, genetics, microbiology, and pathology all with a specific focus on cannabis. The addition of Andrew to our team puts as thought leaders for product safety and risk in the industry," said Alex Hearding, NCRPS Chief Risk Management Officer.

"NCRPS continues to extend its cannabis risk management market leader position with this focus," said Petrilli. "We knew we were early to this market but are now well positioned and scales to deliver our vital products and services to the industry."

ABOUT NCRPS: NCRPS offers the cannabis industry an enterprise-wide business risk framework assessment and improvement process. Outputs of the assessment provide the client with a series of categorized risk scores (which are analogous to credit scores) measured against established best in class risk practices in a report that effectively provides a gap analysis and customized corrective action syllabus which directs the client to prioritize based on their criticality to business operations, cost control/reduction and continuous improvement objectives.

NCRPS recently combined with the National Cannabis Risk Management Association (NCRMA) and will serve as the lead brand while NCRMA manages association membership and the NCRM Academy's educational offerings.

The acquisition will enable NCRPS to offer a custom-designed banking product to serve the needs of banks in states where cannabis is legalized. Cannabis sales remain illegal on the federal level, forcing industry businesses to resort to state-regulated banks for financial needs. The industry has also been limited by the absence of compliant payment processing solutions. NCRPS will address this through its acquisition of MG Payment’s products, enabling banking partners to offer the solutions.

“We are honored and excited to bring this total banking and finance risk management solution to the US cannabis industry as a big step in overcoming one of the markets biggest risks,” said Rocco Petrilli, president, and CEO of NCRPS. “The addition of this capability completes the NCRPS full menu of risk solution processes that will work in unison to drive true cannabis market sustainability through precise risk scoring and follow-up education and execution.”

This first to market cannabis risk scoring system measures both the severity of risk and its subsequent improvement. It will enable banks and credit unions to accurately identify and reduce or eliminate risk while enjoying the revenue that a compliant e-wallet, mobile banking and point of sale transactional system provide, Petrilli said.

“A robust, end-to-end, transparent, and scalable solution to identify and mitigate compliance and overall portfolio risk is exactly what is missing from the equation,” Petrilli said. “The NCRPS solution empowers interested depository financial institutions to make the choice to serve this essential industry.”

NCRPS uses its trademarked Cannabis Risk Prevention Platform, or CRP2^TM to generate assessments on the financial wherewithal and risk exposures of cannabis business. Petrilli said this risk score will become the go to “credit score” for many cannabis banking, lending, financing, and insurance decisions.

NCRPS will retain Thomas Lorenz of MG Payments as its chief risk management officer-banking and finance. Lorenz is a CAMS Certified AML specialist, CAMS Certified Advanced Audit, CAMS Certified Advanced Financial Crimes Investigation, an ABA Certified AML BSA Compliance, a Member of the ACFE and a Certified Fraud Examiner. Lorenz has 30 years of banking, finance, and AML risk management expertise.

“The payment processing product is based on combination of Kineto^TM and 2D^TM technology which is protected by multiple international and domestic patents and patents applied for solution,” Lorenz said. Kineto and 2D are companies that provide the platforms that enable the payment processing functions. “These platforms currently operate on several continents leveraging technology to serve under and unbanked industries and individuals.”

“I am excited for the opportunity that the NCRPS/MGPayments transactions brings to the entire legal cannabis market,” Lorenz said. “The combination brings NCRPS one step closer to the first fully integrated banking risk identification and mitigation tool designed specifically for this important industry.”

Lorenz’s expertise will also support the National Cannabis Risk Management Academy, Petrilli said.

“Risk assessment and identification is an empty shell without the continued commitment to education and consultation provided by our high performing NCRPS professionals, NCRM Academy^TM curriculum and its expert service partners,” said Petrilli. “Full and effective risk mitigation comes from assessment, scoring, custom education, and execution. NCRPS remains committed to offering the best risk management solution to the cannabis market.”

ABOUT NCRPS: NCRPS offers the cannabis industry an enterprise-wide business risk framework assessment and improvement process. Outputs of the assessment provide the client with a series of categorized risk scores (which are analogous to credit scores) measured against established best in class risk practices in a report that effectively provides a gap analysis and customized corrective action syllabus which directs the client to prioritize based on their criticality to business operations, cost control/reduction and continuous improvement objectives.