FOCUS - Foundation of Cannabis Unified Standards

Founded in 2014 as The Cannabis Health and Safety Organization, FOCUS addresses the many short comings in quality, safety, and consistency that became evident with the explosive growth of the global legal cannabis industry. FOCUS is an international, non-profit, cannabis standards development & third-party certification organization dedicated to protecting public health, consumer safety and safeguarding the environment. 

FOCUS is not an advocacy organization, nor an industry trade association.  FOCUS does not accept membership dues or fees for standards development. This autonomy fosters a principled, objective environment that serves end users, providing an impartial bridge between industry and regulatory. 

FOCUS Standards provide current good manufacturing practice (cGMP) guidelines for all key areas of the cannabis industry including Cultivation, Retail, Extraction, Infused Products, Laboratory, Security, Sustainability, and Packaging & Labeling.

The FOCUS certification process is designed to simplify compliance using powerful digital tools and proven processes for quality and safety.  Under FOCUS certification, a business receives ongoing advisory services, SOPs, employee training and a documentation management software system to track and prove compliance. Unlike state and federally mandated audits that delineate what a business is doing right or wrong, FOCUS is here to make sure a business runs as efficiently as possible while minimizing costs and reducing liability.

www.focusstandards.org

Founder | President

Bloom Dispensaries

Strategic Consulting, including business planning & strategy development. Advise on acquisitions, formation of corporations & business structures, drafting policies and structuring transactions. Oversee all aspects of company to ensure interim growth goals are met and expansion deadlines remain on target with plan.  Recruit new investors to fund arising opportunities. Facilitate discussions between other local and national not-for-profits to assure industry is doing their part to move forward.  Keep lines of communication open with local public policy makers to maintain helpful, mutually beneficial environment. Develop and maintain a positive public image, including brand development, marketing and philanthropic endeavors.

Business Development Strategist

Lezli’s success launching pharmaceuticals over twelve years with Eli Lilly completed the perfect foundation for her role as Executive Director of Bloom Dispensaries flagship location, Bloom Phoenix. As the first medical marijuana dispensary to open in Phoenix, Lezli utilized the education and patient focus she learned at Lilly to ensure that Bloom set the standard for patient-centric care, compliance, and cooperation with regulatory agencies.  Lezli believed that medical cannabis needed a clear bifurcation from cultural cannabis roots and modern medical marijuana patients were entitled to an entirely familiar medical experience. This belief resulted in Lezli taking a fully hands on approach to all aspects in the development of the Bloom brand. Lezli also created Patient Education programs and actively led Bloom’s community outreach program, “Bloom Gives Back”. Within the programs first year of existence, Bloom Gives Back raised over $7,000 for local Arizona charities, in addition to adopting a city street, hosting multiple food-drives and monthly service activities.  Under Lezli’s direction, in only one year, Bloom Phoenix went from a 5 to 83 person organization and held 13% of the Arizona medical marijuana market.

Executive Director

Eli Lilly and Company

Grew sales by utilizing background in interpersonal communication & statistics to analyze and interpret trends within territory to identify largest business opportunities with key customers.  Strategically matched company resources with unmet customer needs resulting in the creation of long term, valued, sustainable partnerships with trust levels rarely seen in customer/rep relationships.

Senior Sales Representative

Print Marketing Concepts Inc

Responsible for $2mm in annual advertising sales revenue in local markets throughout the US.  Initiated new business prospecting programs by creating incentive plans, value added sales programs and in house sales competitions. Managed and trained advertising sales staff in extensive cold calling, sales revenue generation and customer relationship building and maintenance. Liaised with project managers to ensure both client and end user needs were met.

Advertising Consultant

Dorling Kindersley Publishing

Responsible for all purchasing decisions for IT division of a large, international multimedia production company.  Garnered and evaluated bids in order to make recommendations based on commercial and technical factors.  Liaised between suppliers, manufacturers, and relevant internal departments. Responsible for building and maintaining good relationships with existing suppliers and networking with potential suppliers while simultaneously negotiating price, agreeing contracts, dealing with ethical issues, monitoring progress and checking quality of service. Presented market analysis, potential growth and developed purchasing strategy based on these reports and other factors such as sustainability, risk management, forecasting price trends and their impact on future activities.

Assistant Director of Purchasing

Lezli's career is a proven track record of success launching new products, companies and even a new industry. Lezli is a strategic self-starter who possesses two decades of professional experience across cannabis, government relations, pharmaceutical, mental health, non-profit, and publishing industries. Her strengths lie in identifying client needs and delivering customized solutions and streamlined processes that ensure quality, safety, compliance, and increased revenue. Her passion for community outreach, coalition building, and public policy issues combined with her love for new challenges and her ability to envision simplified solutions to complicated situations makes Lezli the perfect candidate and uniquely qualified for her work ensuring the highest standards are met and maintained as founder of Foundation of Cannabis Unified Standards (FOCUS).

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