Meet the Team
AMY NATHAN
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND FOUNDER GROMENTUM LAB
Amy helps businesses launch new products and navigate operational transformation where government oversight and regulation drive the creation of new industries. Amy owned her first small business in college and soon thereafter parlayed skills abroad to social impact ventures between Israelis and Palestinians. After years as a management consultant for PricewaterhousCoopers and later at IBM, she created entirely new segments paving the way for societal impacts that Medicare Part D and the Affordable Care Act brought senior citizens and all uninsured Americans while leading efforts at CVS/Caremark and Blue Cross Blue Shield of IL. Most recently she re-vamped the Anti-Money Laundering operation in the Financial Services sector at BMO Harris Bank. When not working, she volunteers time with Chicago disadvantaged youth as a board member and Development Chair of Chicago Arts Partnership in Education (CAPE). Amy has been named to Mayor Lightfoot’s Chicago Working Cannabis Group.
Amy Nathan LinkedIn profile
REVEREND MITCHELL JOHNSON
DIRECTOR OF CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY
Reverend Mitchell Johnson, a Chicagoland community leader for over two decades hosts a popular weekly radio program on WVON, Chicago’s largest African-American radio station. Reverend Johnson is a nationally recognized economic development expert who helped hundreds of churches serve as a catalyst for economic growth and empowerment in their communities. He serves on the Advisory Council of the Simon Wiesenthal Center fighting bigotry and discrimination against racial and religious minorities. He has served as Chaplain of the National Policy Alliance (NPA) representing black public officials across National, State, and Local levels of government. Reverend Johnson is the Executive Director of My Community Plan Foundation (MCPF) directing financial resources to approximately 17,000 churches and other non-profit organizations. He currently an Associate Pastor at Hillcrest Baptist Church.
MAHJA SULEMANJEE
DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION AND MENTORSHIP
Mahja Sulemanjee is a founder and CEO of High Haven and Co-Founder of 3rd Eye High. She brings with her over 15 years of experience in healthcare business development, including four years of experience in cannabis business development. Over the past 4 years Ms. Sulemanjee has built marketing and outreach strategies for an Illinois-based Multi-State Cannabis Company and is now establishing herself as a “green” entrepreneur. Mahja has acquired her Master’s in Public Health and her Master’s in Business Administration. Her passion to help others is noted in her valiant and persistent efforts in community service. She has been awarded and held officer positions, as a board member for several non-for-profits, and healthcare focused organizations. Her efforts continue to aid the communities where she lives and works. Mahja aspires to bring awareness, safe accessibility, and compassion to healthcare and the new emerging hemp and cannabis industries.
MARIO TELLO
CONSULTANT, CURRICULUM DESIGNER AND INSTRUCTOR
Mario is a native of southern Cook County. In 2016, recognizing the trend to make adult-use cannabis legal in the USA, he traveled to Oakland CA to formally learn about his passion: growing cannabis. Mario graduated Oaksterdam University, the nation’s first complete seed-to-sale certification program in operation for 13+ years. Mario stayed in California to perfect his trade for three years with A+ Collectives; he attended workshops of The Hood Incubator and the Green Huddle. He participated in East Bay Cannabis Community (EBCC) and became active with the Illinois Cannabis Coalition as it advocated for social equity in the adult-use legislation introduced in the Spring of 2019. When Mario is not growing or consulting cannabis, he works in custom millwork as a fabricator. Mario has a passion for the plant and for disseminating knowledge on cultivating it and how it can benefit everyone.
ALEXIS KAMENSKY
DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS
Alexis, a Chicago-area native, is a communications specialist having worked in entertainment and legal industries and with mental health services. She has a Business & Entrepreneurship BA from Columbia College in Chicago and a Masters in Clinical Psychology from the Illinois School of Professional Psychology. She is a committed and experienced veteran of campus-based social justice initiatives and a former Teaching Assistant. Alexis got her start in the formal cannabis industry when her family invested in one of the first medical dispensaries in Illinois in 2013. In her free time she volunteers for the non-for-profit, Coffee, Hip Hop and Mental Health that promotes mental health and wellness access for under-resourced communities.