Marijuana Industry Expert to Speak at Redmond Rotary

A Seattle man who makes his living as an entrepreneur in the cannabis industry will be the speaker at Redmond Rotary Thursday afternoon.

Brendan Kennedy will speak at the noon meeting at the Redmond Marriott. He'll address investing in the cannabis industry: lessons learned since 2010, thoughts on I-502 in Washington, and the legalization of cannabis nationwide. 

The public is welcome to attend for $20 per person.  

Kennedy is the President and CEO of Privateer Holdings (www.privateerholdings.com), a private equity firm that’s actively shaping the cannabis marketplace through the development of strategic acquisitions and investments in the cannabis industry. He is also currently the president of Leafly (www.leafly.com). Leafly provides information to help connect patients to the medical cannabis strains that meet their medical needs through an attractive and nurturing online environment.

Since 2010, Kennedy has been featured in various print and TV stories about the cannabis industry by CNN, NPR, NBC, Newsweek, BusinessWeek, Forbes, Fortune, Reuters, AP, The Los Angeles Times and more.

Brendan Kennedy Bio

Kennedy is a former Chief Operations Officer of SVB Analytics, subsidiary of Silicon Valley Bank Financial Group (NASDAQ: SIVB).  At SVB Analytics, Brendan saw more than 500 investor pitches from venture capital back companies.  As the President and CEO of Mindability, Inc., Brendan founded and managed the growth of a software company focused on customer experience measurement.

Kennedy has a BA from the University of California, Berkeley, an MS in Engineering from the University of Washington, and an MBA from Yale University's School of Management. He lives in Seattle with his wife, Maria and has finished six Ironman triathlons.