What’s In The Production of Quality Organic CBD & CBG? – Featuring President of Kentucky Heritage Hemp – Alice Peterson (Episode 19)

Alice is an exceptional leader in the hemp space with Kentucky Heritage Hemp. KHH has gone above and beyond to lead the industry with top notch and quality CBD for brands such as Charlotte’s Web. 

Listen in as we learn more about regenerative agriculture and what it takes to lead with stellar and respectable business practices in the cannabis space. 

Audio/Podcast Link : https://anchor.fm/hempfoundation/episodes/Whats-In-the-Production-of-Quality-Organic-CBD–CBG–Featuring-President-of-Kentucky-Heritage-Hemp–Alice-Peterson-Episode-19-e1k0ekt.

About the Speaker:

Alice is the President of Kentucky Heritage Hemp, the premier provider of 100% USDA certified organic CBD and other hemp products. KHH extracts CBD and CBG from organic hemp plants and creates top-of-the-line extract, distillate, isolate and custom blends. The company’s laboratory is cGMP and kosher certified. Kentucky Heritage Hemp’s bulk wholesale ingredients are used by the world’s most exacting consumer brands for capsules, tinctures, drinks, edibles and topicals. 

After starting her career in large public companies (PepsiCo, Kraft, Sears), Peterson shifted to high-growth businesses.  Her early focus was finance and M&A before moving to operating roles.  She ran the Treasury and Corporate Finance functions at Sears during the company’s restructuring (mid-1990s), and was asked to lead the Sears Online business in 1999; she grew it from zero to $500 million in 18 months.  

She left the Fortune 100 world and in 2002 founded Syrus Global.  Syrus created a technology platform to provide risk management, ethics and compliance solutions for businesses large and small. This service became a core service for businesses focused on Environmental Social and Governance (ESG).  Syrus was acquired by a public company in 2009.  She stayed with the acquiring company through 2011 to open and grow markets in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

Peterson is the founder and principal of The Loretto Group, which helped businesses achieve sustainable profitability, operational scaling, and winning cultures.  This built on a prior role as Executive Vice President of Operations for Fluresh, a cannabis grower, processor, manufacturer, and retailer in Michigan.  There, she was responsible for bringing together the people, processes, and systems to build velocity into the core business model.  

Prior to joining Fluresh, Ms. Peterson ran a healthcare start-up where she operationalized the founder’s concept, raised capital, and enhanced the user experience.  She had previously worked in private equity, where she bought, turned around, and sold companies with her partners.  She started and ran Big Shoulders Capital, an asset-based lender.  

Alice Peterson has served on the boards of large and small, public and private companies, for more than 20 years.  Public company boards include 360 Communications, Fleming Companies, TBC Corporation, Hanesbrands, and Williams Partners.  She currently serves on the board of SP Plus Corporation (NASDAQ) and chairs its Audit Committee.  She is a qualified financial expert.

She is a member of the Economic Club of Chicago, The Chicago Network, and the International Women’s Forum.  She holds an MBA in finance from Vanderbilt University.

Speaker Tags/Social Media: 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alicepeterson/

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Vishal Vivek is the Founder and CEO of Ukhi, a pioneering bio-materials company dedicated to ending plastic pollution by converting agricultural waste into high-performance compostable polymers. With a background in sustainable entrepreneurship and over a decade of technology experience, he leads Ukhi’s vision to create scalable, planet-positive material solutions. Previously, Vishal founded the Hemp Foundation, where he empowered more than 1,000 farmers and advanced sustainable livelihood initiatives. His work has been recognized through awards such as the HDFC Parivartan Grant and featured in leading publications like Forbes and Entrepreneur. Times Group recognized him as a legendary entrepreneur and published his biography in “I Did IT- Vol 2” alongside social pioneers like Bindeshwar Pathak (Sulabh International) and Anshu Gupta (Goonj). Vishal has authored more than 200 articles on sustainability and hemp, reflecting his deep expertise and advocacy for regenerative solutions. His commitment to grassroots impact led him to live in the remote mountains of Uttarakhand, where he immersed himself in the lives of marginal farmers, understanding their challenges and co-creating economic opportunities through hemp-based initiatives. A deeply passionate innovator, Vishal often draws inspiration from seemingly impossible achievements: “If Elon Musk can make rockets reusable, or Dashrath Manjhi can carve a path through a mountain with rudimentary tools, why can’t we eliminate the demon of single-use plastic while uplifting struggling farmers? We will make it happen—whatever it takes.” Ukhi is proud to be supported by premier institutions including IIT Guwahati, NSRCEL-IIM Bangalore, Indian School of Business (Hyderabad), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR Pusa), and the Indian Institute of Packaging. Vishal is committed to demonstrating that business can be a powerful catalyst for global environmental and social good. Connect with Vishal Vivek