Board

of 

Directors

Steven Amato, President

Steven Amato is the owner and operator of Dolce Canapa Farms (a licensed greenhouse and full-term cannabis cultivation site) and Rancho Feliz; a vineyard, event space, short-stay rental, long-term rental, sheep, and black Angus beef ranch in Hopland, Ca. 

He attended Monmouth University, where he earned a degree in Political Science with a minor in Public Policy and graduated Cum Laude. He was Vice-President of the Political Science club, which earned Best Organization Awards each year he was there and set the wheels in motion for it to become a national pollster for the Presidential elections. 

While in college, he began a career in developing low-income housing, in which he eventually became the owner of the company. He then went on to own a company in the Medical Device industry and worked in real estate through mortgage origination. He is a good athlete, scholar, and entrepreneur and considers himself a renaissance man. His true love is in agriculture and specifically cannabis cultivation. He has a passion for cooking just about every night and loves being able to enjoy using his farm-raised meats, vegetables, wine, and of course, cannabis.

Steven has been a part of the cannabis advocacy movement in Mendocino County since 2014, and he is proud and thankful to be on the current Board of the MCA to continue those efforts. He hopes his diverse and unique background will be a beneficial addition to the MCA and Mendocino County as it moves forward in developing legislation and policy.

 

 

Jude Thilman, Treasurer

Jude Thilman is a cannabis patient, policy advocate, medical cannabis educator, and founder/owner of Dragonfly Wellness Center (dragonflywellness.org), a ten-year-old dispensary on the Mendocino Coast. As a medicinal cannabis educator and patient counselor, her passion is to help patients, industry professionals, and healthcare providers make informed decisions about choosing and using cannabis medicines. She hosted a biweekly internet television program, Cannabis News & Views™, and programs remain archived at mendocinotv.com. 

Jude has founded and directed 501(c)3 non-profit organizations and large-scale national projects since 1986. She brings 35 years of experience in producing educational media, for which she has received national awards. Jude strongly believes in health care as a human right and is devoted to bringing sound science and information to the search for truly beneficial, natural, and holistic healing methods. She sees a return to traditional herbal medicine as sounding the death knell for a “pharmaceuticals dominant” approach to resolving “dis-ease.” Jude envisions a path for our cannabis community that is proudly rooted in progressive values that further the rights and dignity of all life on this planet.

 

 

Corinne Powell, Secretary

Corinne is a California native, born in San Francisco, raised in Stockton, and has lived in northern California all her life. She is a University of California, Berkeley graduate.

After college, she did a three-year stint as a paralegal at a large corporate firm in San Francisco. Since then, she has been gainfully employed in the holistic health field, ophthalmic capital equipment industry, and management of a surgeon’s practice. The Ophthalmic position was VP of International Sales and Marketing, and she was fortunate to travel extensively before 9/11.

In the early 1970s, Corinne was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). This life-changing situation shaped her approach toward disease and health, self-help and research, and, coincidentally, her introduction to cannabis as medicine. Since the 70s, she’s treated her MS with cannabis, and mercifully, the neuroprotective qualities have managed her symptoms well.

Corinne’s first exposure to the cannabis stakeholders here was from her realtor, who took her to a Small Farmers Association meeting in the late summer of 2015. Soon thereafter, she volunteered to support Measure AF, met many more members of the local cannabis industry, and has since followed County and state political action very closely.

She remains an advocate in Mendocino County and Sacramento for small, craft cannabis farmers and appropriate cannabis business licensing. She is honored to serve on the Board of Directors of this organization.



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