Little Rock, AR: The Arkansas Cannabis Industry Association (ACIA) announced that Robert deBin has been appointed to the association’s Board of Directors, according to a press release.
An innovator in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Solutions, Mr. deBin is the founder of CLU Solutions, which provides point of sale, payment processing and network services to the restaurant and retail industries. He is also an owner of Natural State Medicinals, which Mr. deBin hopes to run as one of five licensed medical cannabis cultivation facilities in Arkansas.
Mr. deBin is a Little Rock native and 2011 graduate from University of Arkansas Walton School of Business, receiving his degree in Entrepreneurship and Information Systems, as well as a graduate certificate in SAP Enterprise Resource Planning.
In January of 2016, CLU began offering IT consulting services to the Colorado cannabis industry. During this time, Mr. deBin helped design IT and electrical infrastructure for cultivation facilities, consulted for dispensary point of sale developers to help implement standardized hardware options and provided network services to multiple cultivation facilities. When not providing IT services in CO, he has with the cultivators, learned their best practices for cultivating strains with consistent cannabinoid profiles.
Mr. deBin completed training for (and facilitated by) Metrc, the first all regulatory solution for cannabis deployed in December 2013 for the State of Colorado’s Marijuana Enforcement Division. Metrc supports cannabis regulations with technology to prevent and monitor drug diversions. To date, the system has registered over 20,000 users and tracked well over 5,000,000 plants and 3,800,000 packages. A Brookings Institute report on the implementation in Colorado states, “In many ways, the system is the backbone of Colorado’s regulatory structure governing legalized marijuana.” -John Hudak, Brookings Institute, July 31, 2014.
Since November 2016, Mr. deBin has been traveling between Little Rock and Denver, actively receiving training in medical cannabis cultivation with licensed producers in Denver. He holds an occupational support badge with the State of Colorado’s Marijuana Enforcement Division.
‘The ACIA is very excited to have Robert deBin join our board of directors,” says ACIA President Storm Nolan. “Robert has been very active in our state’s medical cannabis program since nearly day one. Robert was instrumental in advocating for sensible changes to the proposed rules and regulations during the public comment periods; changes to benefit both patients and the future industry. Robert has quickly become a subject matter expert in medical cannabis through hands-on learning in other states, and he’s committed to the ACIA’s goal of educating patients, physicians, and the cannabis industry in our state.”
Mr. deBin stated, "I was excited working with the ACIA from the onset and am honored to be appointed as a member of the board. I look forward to collaborating with others to ensure best of class services are applied for patients, dispensaries, and cultivation facilities, across the Natural State.”
Top photo courtesy of the Arkansas Cannabis Industry Association
