Nick Scalera, CEO and Founder, NJ Cannabis Consulting.
For more than 20 years, Nick held management positions with high-tech New Jersey companies including AT&T, Perkin Elmer, Telcordia Technologies, and Ericsson. He also taught business, technical, and math courses at several NJ colleges and universities. From 2001 until 2018, his consultancy, NJS Marketing Services, helped businesses across a wide range of industries develop and implement strategies to achieve their growth objectives.
In 2018, Nick established NJ Cannabis Consulting to serve the business needs of entrepreneurs and companies interested in starting and successfully operating legal cannabis companies by:
Developing cannabis business plans, pro formas and pitch decks.
Performing the research and analysis required to develop and execute effective marketing campaigns.
Advising on the organization, planning and operation of various types of cannabis businesses. More recently, Nick established The Cannabis Learning Center, a free online platform for sharing cannabis-related educational information across 67 different topic areas. Nick regularly lectures, blogs, and tweets on the business aspects of the cannabis industry and has been interviewed for articles and radio programs on the topic. Nick is also a SCORE business counselor and workshop instructor. He holds BS (St. Peter’s University), MS (Stevens Institute), and MBA (Fairleigh Dickinson) degrees.
*NOTE: Mr. Scalera is not an advocate (pro or con) for the legalization of cannabis.
Dave Pepe, Cannabis Business Consultant
Dave Pepe is an experienced executive with expertise in strategic global market and business development, leadership, and operations planning & execution. Dave has 20+ years of expertise in global business/market development and has held business and operational management positions at Ericsson, Avaya, T-Mobile, and Tata Communications.
Dave holds a B.S.E.E. in microprocessor and system design, and further graduate studies in Finance and Marketing.
Most recently, Dave was Sr. Director, Global Business Development Operations of Mobility Solution. As Head of Tata’s Global Mobile Operations, he was responsible for the global planning/execution, capital investments, business process improvement, and pricing/offer management governance. Routinely engaged with internal and F500 Board of Directors for funding/investment and operational execution.
Shawnene M. Vance, Referral Program Director
Shawnene Vance manages the company’s Referral Program, partnering with other ancillary companies to serve the needs of cannabis businesses.
Her dedication in marketing and retail sales, including the cannabis industry with over 15 years of experience in my career in a high-level professional environment as a highly creative thinker while employed in Internet Marketing, Social Media Content, and Analytics will provide leadership and implement the best practices for marketing. Her passion is to engage users and increase brand awareness through unique and innovative marketing strategies and campaigns.
Her experience in retail merchandising product display and implementing them in retail stores, learning customer service and sales. She achieves specific requirements of data collection, tracking, and analysis. Also, have worked for five sales and marketing companies, leading teams assisting in the implementation of product marketing and visualization for clients.
Shawnene’s educational background includes a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology, a Masters of Business Administration with a Marketing Concentration, and a Certification in Business Intelligence and Analytics Management. Because there is a need for Internet Marketing to connect products and brands with the use of technology straight to the consumer. Her professional ambition is to integrate prior marketing talents with information technology.
After college, her passion is to work for a marketing and advertising agency, helping businesses and organizations brand their campaigns and promotions.
About Us
The Cannabis Referral Network grew out of the need by people interested in “planning, building and operating their cannabis business”. Historically, clients would ask us to recommend companies that could provide the many providers of the products and services that they would require.