Our Team
Leadership
Howard Keum
Chief Corporate Development OfficerHowie has over 20 years of experience in global equities - in New York City and internationally out of Hong Kong. He has had trading and leadership roles at Cantor Fitzgerald, Knight Capital Asia, Credit Suisse, Kim Eng Securities, Lava and Citigroup. At Calyx Peak he oversees Business Development, M&A, legal and Compliance.
Howie graduated from Vassar College with a BA in Economics.
Paul Y. Song, MD
Chief Medical OfficerDr. Song is a 20-year physician radiation oncologist by trade. He has served as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) to ATGen Global and NKMax since 2014, overseeing and providing clinical and regulatory support into the major aspects of clinical trials and investigational applications at this prominent biotech company. Dr. Song previously acted as CMO for Cynvenio Biosystems in Thousand Oaks from 2015 to 2017, overseeing the application of Cynvenio’s technology into daily clinical practice as well as directing clinical trials.
In 2013, Dr. Song was the first Visiting Fellow on health policy to the California Department of Insurance. He has also held numerous roles with increasing seniority at Berg Health. He was formally Executive Chairman of the Courage Campaign, a progressive organization of 1,200,000 members. He was also a National Board of Physicians for a Health Program. He recently left Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Radiation Oncology department.
Dr. Song completed his residency in Radiation Oncology from the University of Chicago Medical Center; completed a brachytherapy fellowship at the Institut Gustave Roussy in Villejuif, France; received an MD from the George Washington School of Medicine and Health Sciences; and earned a BA with honors in Biological Sciences from the University of Chicago.
Management
Lee Hoffman
VP of Operations- MOLee Hoffman has almost 20 years of experience in highly regulated industries. In addition to his role and owner-operator of Local Cannabis Company of Missouri, Lee has an extensive background in owning, operating, and managing restaurants in multiple states & was responsible for hiring, training, and managing employees. Lee is also an owner-operator of Kansas City Oil & an active member of the Eastern Kansas Oil and Gas Association and Kansas Independent Oil and Gas Association. Lee has been the lead in Missouri on the 84,000-sf state-of-the art cultivation and manufacturing facility in Smithville along with the Local Cannabis Company dispensary in West Plaza which opened in 2021.
Lee graduated from Kansas State University with B.S. in Hotel/Restaurant Management.
Board of Advisors
Erin Carachilo
AdvisorErin Carachilo brings over 20 years of experience in consumer products and retail to the cannabis industry. Erin began her career in public accounting before becoming an integral member of the strategic team at FAO Schwarz, serving as the Vice President of Finance, where she made significant contributions to the company’s growth and strategic plan. Prior to joining Calyx Peak, Erin served in several roles at IT’SUGAR, the 100-store candy retailer, including heading up Retail Store Operations.
With her experience in financial planning and analysis, fiscal operations, technology integration, internal controls and inventory management, Erin implements mainstream business best practices in the cannabis industry. Erin holds an MBA from Villanova University and a Bachelor of Science from Widener University.
John Chiang
From 2015 until 2019, John Chiang served as California’s 33rd State Treasurer. As the state’s banker, he oversaw trillions of dollars in annual transactions, managed a $75 billion investment portfolio, and was the nation’s largest issuer of municipal bonds.
Prior to being elected Treasurer, Chiang served as State Controller from 2007 through 2014. During the Great Recession, he took steps to preserve cash to meet obligations to education and bond holders. His cash management decisions —which included delaying payments and issuing IOUs — were instrumental in keeping the state’s credit rating from plunging into junk status, and his actions saved taxpayers millions of dollars. Additionally, Chiang aggressively used his audit programs to identify more than $9.5 billion of fraud, waste and abuse in government programs, the most by any Controller in California’s history.
In 1998, he was elected to California's Board of Equalization and served two terms, including three years as chair.
Chiang graduated with honors from the University of South Florida with a degree in finance and received his law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center.
Dave Jones
Dave Jones has over 30 years experience as a legal, public policy, public administration, legislative, and regulatory professional.
He served two terms as California’s Insurance Commissioner from 2011 to 2018. During that time, he led California’s largest consumer protection agency and was responsible for regulating the largest insurance market in the United States where insurers collect $310 billion a year in premiums and have $5.5 trillion in assets under management.
Commissioner Jones developed and implemented a successful initiative to make insurance available for California’s newly legalized cannabis businesses.
Prior to serving as Insurance Commissioner, Jones served in the California State Assembly (2004-2010), as a Sacramento City Councilmember (1999-2004), as Special Assistant and then Counsel to United States Attorney General Janet Reno (1995-1998) and provided free legal representation to low income families and individuals with the non-profit Legal Services of Northern California (1989-1995).
In 1995, Jones was one of 13 Americans awarded the prestigious White House Fellowship in recognition of his academic, civic and professional accomplishments. He holds degrees from DePauw University (B.A), Harvard Law School (J.D.) and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government (MPP). He is also currently the Director of the Climate Risk Initiative at UC Berkeley’s Center for Law, Energy and the Environment (CLEE) and a Senior Fellow at The ClimateWorks Foundation.
Damian Solomon
Damian has over 20 years experience in greenhouse management, horticulture and controlled environment growing systems. He has worked for Eurofresh Farms (N. America’s largest hydroponic greenhouse operation), Grimmway Farms (N. America’s largest farming company), and DeRuiter Seeds/Monsanto.
Since 2014, he has been involved in the cannabis industry as Director of Cultivation and Ag Tech for MedMen. Recently he left MedMen to start his own horticultural consulting company, Plant Geek Consulting. B.S. in Plant Sciences/Crop Production from University of Arizona’s College of Agriculture.