Biography
A pioneer in the legal cannabis industry, John Knapp is a co-founder and current COO of PharmaCielo, a Colombian based, internationally focused medicinal-grade cannabis extract company. Mr. Knapp is also the founder of Colorado-based Good Meds Network, an award-winning medicinal-grade cannabis business.
As COO of Canada-founded and Colombia-based PharmaCielo Ltd., a cultivator and processor of cannabis into medicinal-grade extracts for export worldwide, Mr. Knapp is leading the design of a state-of-the-art oil processing and CGMP facility that will be one of the largest cultivation and extraction projects in the world when completed in 2017. Through Mr. Knapp’s experience and by utilizing Colombia’s natural environmental resources of rainwater and sunlight, PharmaCielo will cultivate over 600 hectares of open-air greenhouses to produce cannabis in the most efficient and environmentally sustainable manner possible.
Previously, Mr. Knapp founded Good Meds Network in October 2009, in which he continues to be involved and where he has proven that smart design can support higher yields from a smaller facility. Featured on the television news magazine “60 Minutes”, under Mr. Knapp’s direction the company evolved from a single-caregiver/wholesale operation to a thriving business with over 65 employees, designing and implementing seven commercial cultivation facilities in four years as well as a state of the art extraction processing and analysis laboratory. With yields of AAA-grade medicine exceeding four pounds per plant and production costs of less than half the industry average, the cultivation methods Mr. Knapp developed are tuned for production efficiency. In 2014 Good Meds Network’s cultivated Pure Power Plant was awarded first place in the best medical hybrid category at the 2014 Denver High Times Cannabis Cup.
Mr. Knapp has also been the founder of Colorado-based GMC & Associates, a cannabis consulting firm, and Gro|Quip, a gardening equipment distributor. An entrepreneur and expert in the field of cannabis business, supply chain management and logistics Mr. Knapp was previously the Senior Marijuana Design Engineer for Quantum 9 Consulting and is a trained industrial engineer. He is and has consulted on over a dozen projects in eight states, Canada and South America.
A trained engineer, Mr. Knapp worked at Mansfield Oil Company as a fuel logistics analyst after receiving a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering at Western Michigan University where his research paper, “Analysis of Forecasted Capacity Utilization Through a Simulated Environment of an Outpatient Pharmacy,” was awarded first place at the Institute of Industrial Engineers Annual Regional Conference.