Executive Team

Chief Executive Officer, Co-Founder

Mr. Perry, co-founder, chief executive officer, chief financial officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors has an extensive entrepreneurial background having owned a number of Master Franchise operations with major franchisors, such as The Crab House and Cinnabon. He also took a real estate seminar company from $0 in revenue to over $3 million in gross revenues and local offices in 23 states within one year. In 2009, for that year only, he was Executive Vice President of Business Development for the first U.S. public company in the Marijuana Industry, Medical Marijuana, Inc. (OTC: MJNA). He created the first revenue source for Medical Marijuana, Inc., utilizing his expertise in educational training seminars, branding, licensing and event planning to develop and produce the “National Medical Marijuana Educational Expo.”

Mr. Perry has been consulting to companies in the Cannabis and Hemp Industry since 2009.  Mr. Perry has, over his business career, been either a consultant or a principle, involved in Franchising, Licensing, Network Marketing, Trademark, Copyright & Patents, Print, Indoor/Outdoor/Digital Advertising, Telephony, Hotel, Resort, Restaurant, Hospitality, Event Production, Video & Film Production, Business Aviation, Luxury and High Performance Auto Restoration, Oil & Gas, Mining, Shipping, Counter Trade, Traditional, Alternative & Complimentary Healthcare, and Non-Profit Fundraising.

Co-Founder

Cowan was born in Fort Worth, Texas in 1940 where he graduated from a local high school in 1958. In 1962 he graduated with a B.A. in Economics, from Yale University, where he had served as president of the Yale Young Republicans and as Chairman of the Party of the Right in the Yale Political Union. He was also a founding member of Young Americans for Freedom, the Conservative student group launched in 1960 by William F. Buckley, Jr. Buckley’s friendship became a lifelong influence on Cowan’s life.

After graduating, Cowan held various management positions in his family’s companies working in manufacturing and natural resources. Later, Cowan worked as an independent investor. In 1972, after volunteering with the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), Cowan wrote a cover article for Buckley’s National Review. In it he called for Conservatives to support the legalization of marijuana, one of the first positions against prohibition in a major opinion journal. Buckley agreed with Cowan, and became a regular critic of marijuana prohibition.

From August 1992 to August 1995 Cowan served as executive director of NORML. In 1994, following a dispute with the NORML Board of Directors, Cowan resigned, but then agreed to stay on after marijuana research pioneer and author, Harvard Medical School Professor Dr. Lester Grinspoon, MD, organized a new board of notable academics. This new NORML Board included Professors John P. Morgan MD and Lynn Zimmer Ph.D (the authors of “Marijuana Myths”, “Marijuana Facts”), Craig Reinarman, Ph.D, an expert on Dutch drugs policies, Nobel Laureate Kary Mullis Ph.D, Ann Druyan, co-producer of Cosmos (with her husband, Carl Sagan), Cato Institutes’s David Boaz and others.

Vice President of Business Development and Investor Relations, Board of Directors Member, Corporate Secretary

Mr. Medeiros works closely with the CEO to manage the initiatives of Freedom Leaf Inc and is responsible to negotiate with potential acquisitions and those looking to join our incubator and/or accelerator operations.  He also works with outside accountants and attorneys to be sure the Company is in compliance with SEC regulations.  He is responsible for Investor and Public Relations activities.

Mr. Medeiros is an entrepreneur and marketing executive who has focused successfully on investing in turnarounds of financially troubled companies as well as founding new companies. He has a Bachelor of Business Administration with a major in Marketing from Kent State University.

Mr. Medeiros has managed many facets of operating a successful business including: operations, finance, human relations, and sales and marketing in retail, import, manufacturing, hospitality, financial services and computer technology.

Ray was involved with a high technology consumer manufacturer, Runco International (www.runco.com), as senior executive for nearly 8 years. Medeiros reported to and worked with CEO to develop company strategy, managed IT, advised marketing vice president, and oversaw finance and legal operations. In 2007, along with the CEO, he supervised the Investment Banking Company to negotiate with the public company that purchased Runco.

Additionally, Mr. Medeiros has worked with a number of non-profit organizations for the past 40 years as a volunteer and/or board member. In 2012, he founded a new non-profit called Business Cares to match non-profits with businesses developing creative projects that benefit both organizations: raising funds for the nonprofit and goodwill for the business.

Vice President of Communication and Advocacy

Allen St. Pierre graduated from the University of Massachusetts with a degree in Legal Studies in 1989. Allen was hired by NORML in early 1991 as the Communications Director, and in 1993 he became the organization’s Deputy National Director. Early in 1997, The NORML Foundation was created and Mr. St. Pierre served as it’s founding Executive Director until 2016.

Allen St. Pierre has been cited in hundreds of international, national and local news publications (New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, London Times, Le Monde, Der Speigel, Economist, Newseek, Time, etc), appeared on hundreds of nationally televised news programs (ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, C-Span, Fox, PBS, etc), and on over 1,000 radio shows representing NORML’s point of views on the topic of marijuana.

Allen St. Pierre now serves as the Vice President of Communication and Advocacy for Freedom Leaf, devoting his time to advocacy and using his relationships with business and political leaders to benefit the company’s media, advertising and merchandising platforms.

Chief Financial Officer

Freedom Leaf CFO and Director Richard Groberg is a senior and accomplished operating and financial executive with a long and successful track record of company:  turn arounds, stable operations, and high growth management – all while directing/completing complex financial transactions.

Mr. Groberg’s cumulative track record of public and private capital raises (both equity and debt) plus M&A transactions exceeds $2.6 billion across several decades. His engineered deal closings span the entire spectrum of credit worthiness: from prepackaged bankruptcies to mezzanine offerings and private equity raises.

He brings extensive operating expertise at the C level for single and multi-location companies; startups; turn-arounds; and high-growth companies.

Chief Operations Officer

Richard Alexander Bolandz, Managing Partner of the International Consultants Consortium LLC, has twenty-five years of professional experience in the field of business concept commercialization, including concentrations in the strategic management of technology, , patent valuation,  commercialization, and the application of technology to corporate development,  business transformation and organizational change.

A recognized authority and expert witness for patent analysis and technology commercialization, Mr. Bolandz has held successive C level positions within the Fortune 50; lead four successful emerging technology start-ups as CEO; and has served as a technology management and commercialization advisor to the to the highest levels of global corporations, national governments and non-governmental international organizations in North America, Europe, Mid-East, North Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean.

As a senior operating executive in successive financial services, telecommunications and software technology based companies, Mr. Bolandz has executed worldwide responsibilities for competitive strategy, global market expansion, international channel management, business diplomacy and corporate representation to national governments worldwide.is collective experience as a senior operating executive in  the software products, IT services & telecommunications sectors; his experience  as strategic management of technology  consultant across a broad range of industrial sectors; and his track record as a successful Start-Up CEO has led to the development of  a unique blend of technology commercialization expertise.

Chief Marketing Officer

Chris Thompson leads Freedom Leaf’s marketing division, and works directly with FRLF’s many brands and subsidiaries to align individual brand strategies with The Company’s overall corporate branding and image. In short, Chris’ job is to help people love Freedom Leaf Inc. as much as he does.

Chris wears a wide variety of hats for Freedom Leaf, including: product development, brand strategy, digital media design, process engineering, business development, traditional marketing, social media marketing, event planning, shipping strategy solutions, brand awareness, and product distribution. Chris also delves into writing, promotion planning, product sales, videography, digital advertising sales, and visual storyboarding as needed.

Chris is a graduate of Purdue University, where he received his Bachelor’s degree in Biological Engineering. After working for three years as an undergraduate researcher at Bindley Bioscience Center, Chris became involved in cannabis activism by starting the Purdue NORML chapter in 2013. He went on to start three other college NORML chapters in the Midwest, worked as an intern in the National NORML Denver offices, and started the Las Vegas NORML chapter where he served as Executive Director. For his advocacy work as an intern and with college chapters, Chris was awarded NORML’s Student Activism Award in 2016.

Director of Technology 

Rodrigo Chavez is an operations manager with a focus on sales and ecommerce development in emerging markets who previously managed business operations, technology development, and ecommerce solutions for Weedmaps in Europe.

Rodrigo is the head of the technology division at Freedom Leaf, and oversees the development, design, and implementation of Freedom Leaf’s web properties across the board. Mr. Chavez is also leading a wave of upgrades to Freedom Leaf’s existing ecommerce structure, which will further monetize The Company’s large media properties and advertising network.

Rodrigo has over 8 years of operations & technology consultant experience and 4 years working within the emerging cannabis industry in Spain, Germany, Netherlands, and the UK.

Editor-In-Chief Freedom Leaf Magazine

Steve Bloom is the editor-in-chief of Freedom Leaf Magazine and publishes and edits CelebStoner.com, the leading sources for marijuana and celebrity news on the web.
He’s co-author of Reefer Movie Madness: The Ultimate Stoner Film Guide (Abrams Image, 2010) and Pot Culture: The A-Z Guide to Stoner Language and Life (Abrams Image, 2008).

A former editor of High Times, he produced the Stony and Doobie awards shows, and the Hempilatiion benefit albums for NORML during his more than 15 years wit the magazine.
He was the recipient of NORML’s Media & Culture Award in 2004.

He has appeared as a moderator, panelist and speaker at many marijuana-reform events, including the NORML conference, the Drug Policy Alliance conference, Seattle Hempfest, and Cypress Hill’s SmokeOut and Spring Gathering events. He is also the author of Video Invaders (Arco, 1982) and Watch Out for the Little Guys (St. Martins Press, 1989).