Marianne Bays is a cannabis industry business entrepreneur, consultant, analyst and advocate and a lifetime resident of New Jersey. She has been studying and working in the cannabis industry, nationally, since 2008. She has been the lead consultant on cannabis business license application projects in 8 states, and the District of Columbia, helping to win licenses for her clients in 6 of these locations, including one of the first medical cannabis business licenses in New York State. Dr. Bays performs on-going cannabis industry analyses to understand state regulatory requirements, business issues and opportunities across the US. She was a founding operations member of Kalyx Development, a real estate investment trust in the cannabis industry, and also a Managing Director of Mingleridge Business Resources, LLC, providing consulting services to the industry.
Marianne has over 20 years of previous experience working with Fortune 2000 businesses and government agencies on process, performance and structure improvement, human resources and information systems management and measurement. She was formerly VP and Managing Director of Technology and Business Integrators, a strategic management consulting firm. There she was responsible for personal consulting and for management of consulting engagements in business process outsourcing (BPO), information technology outsourcing (ITO), organizational and service delivery performance measurement and management, organizational design, and process improvement. She was also previously an Assistant Professor of Management at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, NJ, specializing in Information Systems Management, Business Strategy, Quality Management and Organizational Development. She has been an independent organizational consultant for much of her career. She holds a PhD in Business – Organization and Policy Studies from CUNY Graduate Center in NYC.
In addition to experience in the private sector, Marianne has also had substantial experience in leadership of an international non-profit professional organization (IPMAAC) and guiding the set up and formal organization of several non-profit charitable organizations. She has been a business advisor to the American Cannabis Nurses Association (ACNA) and NORML NJ Women’s Alliance. In 2017, she helped found the New Jersey CannaBusiness Association (NJCBA), the state’s primary cannabis trade association. She is a currently Vice President of NJCBA and a member of its Policy Committee. In this role, she is responsible for managing new committees and task forces; introducing others to the NJ cannabis industry, and working to resolve member’s operating issues in cooperation with the NJ Cannabis Regulatory Commission. In a previous role as Chair of its Higher Education Committee, she worked with NJ colleges and universities to develop curriculum and programs related to careers in the cannabis industry, including working with Stockton University’s Cannabis Studies Program to plan and co-sponsor annual NJ Cannabis Career Fair and Business Expos from 2019-2021. She was asked to serve as a member of Rowan University’s MBA Advisory Council beginning in 2023 and was also appointed to the Cannabis Advisory Board at Hudson County Community College in 2024.
Dr. Bays is currently planning to launch a NJ cannabis product manufacturing business that will produce a wide variety of branded products for the NJ market, working with brands from other states as well as brands with roots in NJ legacy cannabis market. Dr. Bays brings a combination of business strategy and operations knowledge and experience and cannabis industry knowledge and experience to her role as CEO of Northeast Corridor Provisions, a licensed contract manufacturers of cannabis products with regional aspirations.