PANEL: FROM SEED TO FUNDING: NAVIGATING CANNABIS CAPITAL MARKETS
JAMES DALEY Executive Vice President | Needham Bank
James Daley has over 20 years of banking experience serving most recently as Needham Bank’ s Senior Vice President, Director of Structured Finance. James has helped drive over $ 1 billion of growth for Needham over the past five years through the establishment of commercial relationships across a variety of industries. The Structured Finance Team at Needham leads the company on its cannabis lending and relationship management practices.
Prior to joining Needham Bank, Daley was an SVP Team Leader at Customers Bank, managing a portfolio of commercial loans totaling over $ 300 million. He also managed commercial loan portfolios and served as a credit analyst at banks including Flagstar Bank, First Trade Union Bank, and Banco Santander( Sovereign Bank).
Daley received a Bachelor of Business Administration from George Washington University with a concentration in International Business.
STEVEN HAM Managing Partner & Co-Founder | Altmore Capital
Steve Ham is a seasoned investor and senior executive with over three decades of experience spanning private credit, private equity, and venture capital. He is a co-founder and Managing Partner of Altmore Capital. Steve began his career at Salomon Brothers and went on to hold key roles at leading firms including The Carlyle Group, RedZone Capital, and Sterling Partners. Over the course of his career, he has led and exited transactions totaling more than $ 3 billion.
DAVID KITE Managing Partner | Chicago Atlantic
David is a Managing Partner at Chicago Atlantic and serves as COO of Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance, Inc., the affiliated mortgage REIT. In the four years since joining Chicago Atlantic, David has played a key role in sourcing, negotiating, and managing complex relationships of dozens of loans with a face value of well over $ 1 billion dollars. David began his career as a commodities trader with Commodities Corp where legendary traders Paul Tudor Jones, Bruce Kovner, and Louis Bacon launched their careers. Soon after, David founded K & K Capital Management, where he created a proprietary trading strategy which at its peak managed more than $ 250 million and generated average annual returns of 19 percent for nearly a decade. Later, David transitioned to real estate as Partner and COO of Free Market Ventures a boutique private equity real estate company where he developed over 200 multifamily units, built over 100k square feet of cannabis cultivation warehouses, acquired and managed over 250k square feet of office space, purchased in excess of $ 25 million in distressed debt and receiver liens, and oversaw all aspects of the company including deal structure, capital raising, debt financing, due diligence, acquisitions, asset management, and dispositions.
13 • State of the Cannabis Industry Conference