For more than 20 years, Nick held management positions with high-tech New Jersey companies such as AT&T, Perkin Elmer, Telcordia Technologies, and Ericsson. He has also taught business, technical, and math courses at several NJ colleges and universities. Since 2001, his consultancy, NJS Marketing Services, has helped businesses across a wide range of industries develop and implement strategies to achieve their growth objectives.
Nick is currently founder and CEO of NJ Cannabis Consulting, serving the business needs of entrepreneurs and companies interested in becoming involved in the legal recreational marijuana market in New Jersey by:
- Helping them understand the many challenges that lie ahead.
- Determining whether the opportunities are right for them.
- Developing and executing the plans and programs necessary to their success.
He also speaks, blogs, and tweets regularly on the business aspects of marijuana legalization in New Jersey.
Nick is also a certified SCORE business counselor and workshop instructor, and holds BS, MS, and MBA degrees.
*NOTE: Mr. Scalera is not an advocate (pro or con) for the legalization of marijuana in New Jersey
Jeff Shapiro is a New Jersey native with roots in Trenton. He is a cannabis business consultant focused on operations and serves as a subject matter expert. Jeff has been serving the cannabis industry for the last eleven years. He started a Medical Cannabis Collective in Santa Cruz CA in 2007 and operated a fully integrated, compliant medical cannabis operation there until 2013 where he provided high quality medical cannabis and derived products to registered patients in the State of California.
Jeff started consulting in the cannabis and hemp areas in 2014. Jeff has worked with established cannabis companies in order to help grow their operations, expand their businesses into new markets, and help them focus on protecting the health and safety of the public, by delivering safe, trustworthy, and high quality products. Jeff is well versed across industry sectors and provides consulting and advisory services for government organizations, cannabis companies, and ancillary businesses alike.
Cannabis companies have engaged Jeff for advisory, consulting, and operational roles and he provides services in the areas of license application preparation/submission, facility design/build, business operations, regulatory compliance, product liability/risk mitigation, SOP development, analytical lab testing operations, cultivation/processing, financial modeling, and business plan development.