Our experience spans all aspects of drug development and manufacturing with unparallelled knowledge of botanically derived drug products.
George Hodgin is the Founder and CEO of BRC. He is a former Navy SEAL officer and alumnus of the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. He was commissioned as an officer in the Navy in 2009, after earning a BA in Economics and Mandarin from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a Morehead-Cain scholar. George led SEALs in combat in counter-terrorism operations in Afghanistan and Southeast Asia.
Lucas Zumstein is the VP of Operations and a chemical engineer by training with more than ten years of experience in pharmaceutical cGMP manufacturing, holding a BSc in Chemical Engineering from Drexel University and an MBA in International Supply Chain and Operations Management from Southern New Hampshire University. Lucas began his career at Johnson & Johnson Consumer as a project and process engineer and later transitioned to Janssen’s small molecule division at the Noramco subsidiary. Throughout his tenure at Noramco, Lucas advanced through the project management organization, led the technical transfer and CMO business unit, and ultimately served as the site leader for GMP manufacturing.
Catherine Maher, PhD, RAC, serves as Head of Regulatory Affairs and has 25 years of experience in the industry. Prior to joining BRC, she led the approval of the contraceptive Phexxi® at a women’s health company. Catherine also served as Head of Regulatory Affairs at Greenwich Biosciences, where she directed all FDA interactions and program-level regulatory strategy for multiple rare diseases. While there, she also led the NDA strategy, submission, defense, FDA Advisory Committee meeting, and approval of Epidiolex®. Catherine has built a strong foundation of regulatory and development expertise across multiple therapeutic areas at companies such as Pfizer, Entremed, Salix, and Cato Research.
Maria Grunwald, Head of Business Development, has over 20 years of industry experience with a focus on strategic partnerships, fundraising, and company creation. She has held senior roles at Dyax, Radius Health and other companies in therapeutics, diagnostics, and medical devices, including AesRx, IsoPlexis, Dicerna, Genevant and QurAlis. Maria has deep transactional expertise, particularly in licensing, collaborations, and co-development, and has negotiated over 30 strategic agreements. She performed her PhD studies in neuroscience and molecular biology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and holds an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Justyna Kulpa, PhD, is the Director of Research and Development. With over a decade of experience, including seven years of cannabinoid-focused research, Justyna has designed and managed numerous studies and communicated complex scientific data to diverse audiences. Justyna has co-authored multiple peer-reviewed publications on cannabinoid safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and effects in humans and nonclinical animal models and presented data to clinicians, scientists, and regulatory bodies in the U.S. and Canada. Previously, she served as Senior Scientist (Human and Animal Research Program) and Regional Research Manager (Animal Health) at Canopy Growth Corporation. Justyna earned a PhD (Molecular Biology) from the Université de Montreal, MSc (Biomedical Science) from the University of Guelph, and a BMSc (Medical Science) from the University of Western Ontario.
David Weinmann is a finance professional with 25 years of experience in accounting and corporate finance. This includes progressive roles within the Biotech, Life Science, and Cannabis industries, most recently as CFO with Sunniva Inc. He brings extensive experience within manufacturing operations and costing and has a solid track record of successful operational expansion projects and year-over-year productivity. In addition, he brings experience growing startup companies to high growth, commercialized entities and the financial discipline to create the required infrastructure to handle growth.
Brian Brandley, PhD, MBA, is Laboratory Director at BRC. Brian graduated from the University of Miami with a BS and MSc in biology and completed his PhD with a Fulbright-Hayes Fellowship at the University of Sydney. Following a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Dr. Brandley helped initiate the first of several start-up biotech companies. He has spent the majority of his career working in drug discovery and development, with an emphasis on oncology, immunology, and inflammatory disease indications.
Lori Martinez, VP of Quality Management, is a Quality Assurance and Compliance executive with over 28 years’ experience in developing, implementing, and sustaining GxP Quality Management Systems for the pharmaceutical, medical devices and biotechnologies industries. Lori’s areas of expertise are in QSIT, GMP, and ISO compliance, and she has guided companies through the resolution of warning letters by implementing successful and compliant quality systems through continual quality improvement (CQI), risk management, and the implementation of DQSA and DSCSA (drug serialization requirements). Lori’s certifications include the Regulatory Affairs Certification (RAC) from the Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society (RAPS).
Lisa Carino, Director of DEA Compliance, is a nationally recognized Drug Enforcement Administration, controlled substance, and regulated chemical subject matter expert with over 20 years of operational experience. She is knowledgeable in all aspects of the Title 21 USC Controlled Substance Act, 21 CFR 1300-end, and equivalent state agency-related regulations applied to each facet of the pharmaceutical industry, combined with extensive knowledge of industrial physical security systems.
