Charlie Bachtell is CEO and Co-Founder of Cresco Labs, one of the leading vertically-integrated, multi-state cannabis companies in the United States. Named one of the top 100 cannabis industry leaders by Entrepreneur Magazine, Mr. Bachtell has spearheaded Cresco’s organic growth and acquisition strategies to build the most strategic geographic footprint and the leading distribution platform in the North American cannabis market. Having successfully raised private funding in excess of $200 million, Mr. Bachtell has effectively deployed capital to build shareholder value including the $824 million acquisition of Origin House in 2019, the largest public company acquisition in U.S. cannabis industry history at the time. Deeply committed to driving positive social change, Mr. Bachtell oversaw the launch of Cresco’s Social Equity & Educational Development (SEED) initiative in May 2019, the cannabis industry’s first national comprehensive social equity initiative promoting inclusion, expungement, equality, access, and community engagement.

Mr. Bachtell is a sought-after speaker on the cannabis industry’s national stages and has been featured as an industry leader in mainstream media like CNBC and Yahoo! Finance as well as in industry publications like Marijuana Business Daily, Cannabis Business Times and Marijuana Venture Magazine. An attorney by training and a former Executive Vice President and General Counsel for one of the largest mortgage banks in the country, Mr. Bachtell is recognized as one of the foremost authorities on regulatory affairs and compliance in some of the nation’s most heavily regulated industries. He served on the Cannabis Legalization Subcommittee of Illinois Governor JB Pritzker’s transition team, which led to the passage of legislation legalizing adult-use cannabis in the state of Illinois, which now serves as a model for other states to legalize marijuana by statute rather than ballot initiatives. Mr. Bachtell serves as an adjunct Professor at the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law teaching classes on the legal and regulatory matters existing in the emerging cannabis industry and is a founding member or member of associations across the country including the National Cannabis Bar Association, Illinois Cannabis Bar Association, National Cannabis Industry Association, Pennsylvania Cannabis Coalition and the Medical Cannabis Alliance of Illinois.