Richard Sarfoh

For the last two years Richard held the position of Chief Operating Officer for 2540RP LLC dba BotaniQ, a medical marijuana provisioning center in the Corktown neighborhood of Detroit and a C-class cultivation facility in Warren, Michigan until he sold the business in February ‘20. Richard became involved in the cannabis industry after seeing how the plant helped ease his wife’s Multiple Sclerosis symptoms. As co-founder and COO of the company, Richard’s focus was on driving operational efficiencies and to provide leadership to the group in order to improve revenue.

Since 2016, Richard has been working closely with local and state officials to understand regulations and compliance requirements, as well as to ensure friendly neighborhood relations. The business opened in 2018 and allowed Richard to be intricately involved in the hiring and managing process of 37 employees. Setting up a seed-to-sale POS system proved challenging but rewarding because of the opportunity to troubleshoot as a team, thus improving workflow and building group cohesion.

Experiencing the transition from a caregiver-only market to a state regulated environment revealed to Richard the stringent supply chain requirements such as mandatory testing for harmful agents, secured transport and Metrc compliance.

Before his involvement in the Cannabis industry, Richard Sarfoh served in the United States Marine Corps, ending his military career as a Scout Sniper. He planned and conducted advanced reconnaissance, search & rescue, and sniper operations. Richard instructed teams on airborne and waterborne infiltration techniques and served as a liaison between foreign military officers and U.S. military and law enforcement personnel. He briefed and debriefed sniper teams and superior officers about mission goals and combat performance and conducted counter-terrorism operations in wooded, desert and urban terrain. Following his active duty service, Richard was employed by Central Intelligence Agency as an operative. He provided security for U.S. intelligence assets during clandestine operations in Central Europe and the Middle East. Fluent in Russian, German and English, he served as a priority linguist for human intelligence operations and as an Assault Team Leader for direct action operations.

While working in the intelligence sector, Richard was the Director of Sales for a German manufacturing company. Richard collaborated with sales teams in the U.S., Brazil, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Mexico and Russia to promote global sales and set up the company’s first North American facility by locating, leasing and outfitting an 8000 square foot building, which included office space and two laboratories. He exceeded aggressive sales targets with 10 percent year-to-year growth for the 15 years he was with the company.