Blue Ribbon Commissioners

Speaker Jon Mills, Chair

Mr. Mills is Dean Emeritus, Professor of Law, and Director of Center for Governmental Responsibility at the University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law. He served as Dean of the College from 1999-2003. Mr. Mills served in the Florida Legislature from 1978 to 1988, also serving as Speaker of the House during his last two years in office. While a member of the Legislature he sponsored the Florida Growth Management Act; the Child Abuse Prevention Act and the Constitutional Amendment guaranteeing Individual Privacy against governmental intrusion. He has been listed in Florida Trend Magazine's "Legal Elite" as one of the best lawyers in Florida chosen by members of the Bar.

As a researcher and teacher, he has been a principal investigator and directed major studies attracting over six million dollars in grants on environmental and constitutional issues. As an expert on constitutional issues, he has been quoted newspaper publications such as the New York Times and Wall Street Journal and appeared on television programs like CNN's "Burden of Proof” and other media outlets like National Public Radio. He also produced and moderated an Emmy winning show on the Florida Everglades.

Former State Senator Alex Diaz de la Portilla, Vice Chair

Alex Díaz de la Portilla is a Cuban-American politician and member of the Republican Party. Elected to the Senate in 2000, he eventually served as the Senate Majority Leader in the Florida Legislature ending

his term in 2010. He was President Pro Tempore from 2002 through 2004. Previously he was a member of the Florida House of Representatives from 1994 through 2000. Díaz is one of the four children of Cuban exiles Miguel Ángel Díaz-Pardo and Fabiola Pura de la Portilla-García. His paternal great-grandfather served in Cuban Senate, while two of his sons served simultaneously in the Cuban House of Representatives. His maternal great-grandfather served as Cuban Minister of Justice (Attorney General).

Irv Rosenfeld, Chair, Patient Advocate Subcommittee

Irvin Rosenfeld is the longest surviving of the final four Federal Medical Cannabis patients in the United States as he lives with a severe bone tumor disorder. The Federal Government has been supplying him 10 Medical Cannabis cigarettes per day for over 31 years. In the capacity of a Federal patient, he has spoken to many politicians in various State Capitols, been featured on national news programs such as NBC Nightly News as well as numerous documentaries such as the PBS Emmy winning feature “Smoking Medicine: The Marijuana Issue”. Irvin is a board member of “Patient’s Out of Time” a 501 C-3 organization that is the only organization that is sanctioned by the American Medical Association and the American Nurses Association to teach doctors and nurses about Medical Cannabis to where they get Continuing Education Credits. Irvin has written his life story and that of the history of the Medical Cannabis movement in this country through his book “My Medicine” ‘How I Convinced the U.S. Government To Provide My Marijuana and Helped Launch a National Movement,’ which was published in 2010.

Karen Basha Egozi, Patient Advocate Subcommittee

Karen Basha Egozi is the Chief Executive Officer of the Epilepsy Foundation of Florida and has been working on behalf of patients with epilepsy and their families since 2005. As the organization’s chief executive, Karen manages the efforts of a team of over 50 employees in eight offices throughout the state who provide direct services to citizens in 35 of Florida’s 67 counties, with statewide responsibility through the Florida Department of Health. For her efforts, she was selected by the Epilepsy Foundation as the national organization’s 2008 affiliate Executive of the Year. She currently serves as a board member of Josh Provides, an organization dedicated to helping patients with epilepsy. Prior to joining the Epilepsy Foundation, Karen managed a $129 million budget as the Vice President of Administration for the Early Learning Coalition Miami-Dade/Monroe, and as Chief Executive Officer of the Voices For Children Foundation, a fundraising organization dedicated to championing the Guardian Ad Litem

Program of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit. Karen has served as Board Chair of Sant La Haitian Neighborhood Center and as the federally appointed Housing Committee Chair for the Federal Home Bank of Atlanta from 2003-2006. Other leadership positions have included board member of Guardian Ad Litem Florida State Association and Trustee of the Endowment Committee Chair for Voices For Children. She is a graduate of Florida State University.

Robert Jordan, Patient Advocate Subcommittee

Robert Jordan is an advocate for medical marijuana and has experienced its beneficial properties firsthand while assuming the role of caregiver. His wife Cathy suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. As president of the Florida Cannabis Action Network, she seeks to give a voice to other ALS patients. With Robert by her side, Cathy has survived since 1986 and this medicine has helped her outlive most of those in her ALS support groups. As a Vietnam veteran himself, Mr. Jordan has been an active supporter of veteran’s issues over the years. You can often find him lobbying state governments on behalf of veterans regarding many issues including those associated with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Dr. Jeffrey Kamlet, Chair, Medicine and Science Subcommittee

Dr. Jeffery Kamlet is a South Florida internist with 28 years experience providing care to adult patients suffering from a wide range of illnesses and diseases, ranging from the very common to the very rare. He has been certified twice in addiction medicine by the American Board of Addiction Medicine and is also a fellow with the American Society of Addiction Medicine. As a two time past-president of the Florida Society of Addiction Medicine, Dr. Kamlet was involved in the closing of the pill mills in Florida as well as lending his expertise to weigh in on many other issues the state has faced in the medical community. He is well respected by industry leaders as a certified clinical trials primary investigator.

Dr. Greg Gerdeman, Medicine and Science Subcommittee

Dr. Greg Gerdeman is an Assistant Professor of Biology at Eckerd College in Saint Petersburg, Florida. He has actively researched the neurobiological targets of cannabis since entering graduate school at Vanderbilt University in 1995. There, his doctoral dissertation in Pharmacology included seminal discoveries about the functioning of endocannabinoids in the brain, especially within neural circuits involved in motor control and pathologies of movement and compulsive disorders. His work at Vanderbilt and subsequently the University of Arizona was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), and earned multiple awards for excellence from the International Cannabinoid Research Society. More recently Dr. Gerdeman co-directed a study supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), investigating the release of natural endocannabinoids during endurance exercise. His papers have appeared in top tier scientific journals including Nature Neuroscience and Trends in Neuroscience, and have been cited over 1500 times in the scientific literature. His research has been highlighted in press pieces ranging from Science to National Geographic to Men’s Health. He co-authored a chapter in The Pot Book: A Complete Guide to Cannabis (Park Street Press, 2010), and has written as a guest commentator on medical marijuana for the Tampa Bay Times. At Eckerd College he teaches courses in physiology, neuroscience and pharmacology; his research focuses on the molecular physiology of cannabinoid receptors and their evolution within neural systems.

Dr. Clifford A. Selsky, PhD, MD, Medicine and Science Subcommittee

Dr. Selsky founded and co-directed the Florida Hospital Medical Group’s Children’s Center for Cancer & Blood Diseases until July 2013. He is board certified in pediatrics and pediatric hematology/oncology and palliative medicine. He has been caring for children in the Central Florida region for more than 20 years, treating a range of serious medical conditions, from brain tumors and leukemia to sickle cell anemia. As a long time, former principal investigator for Children’s Oncology Group clinical trials at the Florida Hospital Cancer Institute, Dr. Selsky is a highly respected expert in his field, as well as a noted author of numerous research papers in peer-reviewed journals.

Sheriff Jim Mafre

Jim Manfre's career in law began shortly after his graduation from Fordham University, Bronx, New York. He spent four years as an investigator and trial preparation assistant for the Bronx and Kings Counties, New York District Attorney while attending St. Johns University School of Law, Queens, New York, graduating in 1984. He then spent twelve years as an Assistant District Attorney in Suffolk County, New York. He and his family then moved to Palm Coast, Florida in 1999, and from 2001 to 2005 he served as Flagler County Sheriff, bringing a new level of professionalism and excellence to the government agency. In 2006 he was admitted to the Florida Bar and practiced law in Flagler County until his election again as Sheriff of Flagler County in 2012. Sheriff Manfre's extensive community service background includes being a member and Past President of the Flagler County Rotary, member of the Flagler County Chamber of Commerce Business Issues Committee, of the Florida Hospital Flagler Foundation and the Santa Marie del Mar Church Parish Advisory Council in Flagler Beach, Florida.

Teena Borek

Teena Borek was born in the Canadian maritime province of Newfoundland. She came to South Florida in the 1970s, where she met Steven Borek, a Homestead vegetable farmer. The couple married and had two sons, Steven and Michael. After Steven’s untimely death at the age of 24, Teena continued farming the 500 acre vegetable farm so that her sons could follow in their father’s footsteps. For the last forty years, Teena has been an active member of the Dade County farming community. She is a charter member of the Florida Ag Promotional Campaign and a past President of the Dade County Farm Bureau. She serves on the board of directors of the Florida Tomato Committee, Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association, Community Bank of Florida and Everglades Community Association and was chosen as "Agriculturist of the Year" in Homestead in both 1985 and 2011. She was named 2004 Woman of the Year in Agriculture by Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson and the Florida Department of Agriculture. Miami-Dade County and the cities of Homestead and Florida City have proclaimed "Teena Borek Day" in her honor.

Jordan Wellington

Jordan Wellington, Esq., an associate at Vicente Sederberg LLC, graduated cum laude from Brooklyn Law School in May of 2009. His primary focus at Vicente Sederberg is on regulatory compliance and government affairs. In 2013, Jordan served as the sole legislative staffer assigned to shepherd the legislation relating to the implementation of Amendment 64 and the legalization of marijuana through the Colorado General Assembly. Jordan was then hired by the Colorado Department of Revenue’s Marijuana Enforcement Division to serve as the sole policy analyst during the development and drafting of the rules governing retail marijuana and the revised rules governing medical marijuana. During his time with the Marijuana Enforcement Division, Jordan drafted rules governing testing, cultivation, product manufacturing, concentrate production, retail distribution, production management, transportation, certification of laboratories, labeling, packaging, and storage. He also organized the Division’s entire stakeholder engagement process and personally chaired several of the working groups. Jordan is honored to be selected to serve on Marijuana Research Advisory Group, which was convened by the Colorado School of Public Health at UCD, and Advisory Board on Good Marijuana Cultivation and Handling Practices, convened by the Colorado Department of Agriculture. In addition to his expertise in the regulation of the marijuana industry, Jordan has also worked for the New Jersey Legislature, New York Assemblyman Jonathan Bing, and the Epilepsy Foundation of NJ. Also, Jordan is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Prevent Child Abuse Colorado.

Pamela S. Goodman

Pamela Goodman currently serves as a 1st vice President on the Florida State League of Women Voters. Educated at the University of Iowa in Journalism and Business, she spent her professional career in retailing, rising to President/CEO of Limited Express, with $1.5 billion in revenue and over 850 stores nationwide. She served as League of Women Voters Palm Beach County President 2005 -2009 and has been serving on the League of Women Voters Florida State Board of Directors from 2007 to present. While serving in those roles, she was appointed by the Supervisor of Elections Palm Beach County to head a review and audit of voting machines and processes for the 2006 and 2008 elections. Since 2006, she has chaired the Fair Districts campaign statewide for the League, and was responsible for

coordinating all League work during the campaign to secure passage of the two Fair Districts constitutional amendments. She continues to work with all litigation regarding this issue.

Pam has also served on the National League of Women Voters Nominating Committee and the National Membership Recruitment Committee. In addition to being a member of the first “Sisters Across the Straits” government and citizen education team that traveled and met with women in Cuba, she has received numerous awards including the Susan B. Anthony Award for Outstanding Feminist 2008 from the National Organization for Women. She also serves as President of The Homeless Coalition of Palm Beach County, a nonprofit organization that has more than tripled its revenue under her guidance and now serves as the key fundraising, education and advocacy organization in Palm Beach County supporting the Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness. Pam is also a Director on the Board of Hospice of Palm Beach County Foundation. She has recently served on the Community Advisory Board for WXEL radio and television PBS stations for Palm Beach County and Treasure Coast areas. She has been a volunteer with Junior Achievement business preparation classes for high school seniors, teaches underserved adult communities with The Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County, and volunteers at her local community hospital.