Leadership Team
The Copacetic Strategies team is staffed by former cannabis regulators and financial services compliance experts. Their deep expertise in the unique risks posed by financial-related, cannabis-specific complexities allows them to take a strategic approach based on jurisdiction-specific rules, manuals, and guidance to construct risk-based solutions. Our leadership blends experience from cannabis regulation with financial services compliance and risk operations to provide unrivaled expertise and advisory services.
Philip DS Martin
CEO
Bio
Philip DS Martin founded Copacetic Strategies because he believes that communicating in the language of risk management facilitates better engagement between cannabis businesses and financial institutions. Increased engagement empowers both to responsibly profit from the generational change in views towards cannabis, industrial hemp, and marijuana.
Experience
As the former manager of the Data Analysis Unit (DAU) at Colorado’s Marijuana Enforcement Division (MED) and the former BSA officer of a cannabis-specific payments platform, Phil has distinct insights on the financial-related, cannabis-specific complexities that cannabis business operators and financial-services compliance professionals encounter in the cannabis ecosystem.
Before launching Copacetic Strategies Phil designed and managed the BSA/AML program of a Silicon Valley-based MSB dedicated to cannabis. As an experienced cannabis banker, he advocates for the use of cannabis-related customer risk ratings to increase efficiencies in cannabis banking programs.
While serving the State of Colorado, Phil was instrumental in the Sweet Leaf license revocation action and subsequent criminal matter. The quantitative analyses of point-of-sale and inventory-tracking (METRC®) data his team developed contextualized the scope and scale of the company’s looping practices. His testimony was compelling in the administrative hearing, and he served as an expert witness during the grand jury investigation that followed license revocation. Read more about Sweet Leaf.
Credentials
Phil is a Certified Commercial Cannabis Expert (CCCE) and Certified Anti Money-laundering Specialist (CAMS) and a U.S. Marine Corps combat veteran. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Richmond, the American International University in London, where he graduated summa cum laude and was awarded the “Outstanding Graduate in Political Science.”
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Brion Nazzaro
Managing Director
Bio
Brion Nazzaro has over 15 years of experience in the financial services industries. Brion is known for his skill in turning around troubled compliance and loss-prevention units and bringing organizations back into regulatory compliance while maintaining or improving the customer journey.
Experience
Brion has served multiple national and international financial institutions in various executive roles. In addition, Brion has been the chairman on compliance committees, AML committees, and risk committees at multiple financial institutions. His experience spans state and national chartered banks with brokerage, trust, insurance, and private-banking services. He has also worked with MSBs and FinTechs with various charters, both in the U.S. and internationally.
Credentials
Brion is a Certified Commercial Cannabis Expert (CCCE), Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS), Certified Regulatory Compliance Manager (CRCM), Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), and Project Management Professional (PMP). He also holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Master of Business Administration, concentrated in Finance, from the University of Denver.
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Kyle England, Esq.
General Counsel
Bio
Kyle Englad, Esq., has deep expertise in cannabis law, its application, and the complex outcomes produced by state legalization in the face of persistent federal prohibition.
Experience
Kyle was on the front lines of the maturation of Colorado’s best-in-nation cannabis regulatory regime and served with the Office of Legal Counsel for Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper and Colorado’s Department of Revenue, Marijuana Enforcement Division. He has drafted cannabis law and regulations, facilitated collaborative rulemaking processes, and brought regulatory enforcement actions against regulated cannabis businesses.
Credentials
In addition to his role as General Counsel for Copacetic Strategies, Kyle practices cannabis and real estate law at Spaeth & Doyle LLP. While he resides and primarily practices in Colorado, Kyle is licensed to practice in Iowa, Massachusetts, Maine, New York, North Carolina, New Jersey, Vermont, Connecticut, North Dakota, Alabama, Montana, West Virginia, Tennessee, and South Carolina. Kyle holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Colorado State University and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Denver’s Strum Law School.