Michael Mellano

With more than three decades of leadership experience across agriculture, regulated cannabis, and business operations, this executive has built and led organizations through complex regulatory, operational, and growth environments. As CEO of Coastal Wellness Inc., they helped author and successfully pass Vista Measure Z, enabling retail cannabis sales in the City of Vista, and have since opened and managed multiple dispensaries, including the highest-rated dispensary in San Diego County. As CEO of Green Venture Farms Inc., they collaborated with the San Diego Farm Bureau and Oceanside City Council to establish the region’s first mixed-light cultivation ordinance, ultimately securing a cultivation license after achieving top application scores. Their leadership also includes extensive experience with Mellano & Company Inc., where they have served as CEO from 2008–2017 and again from 2024 to the present, overseeing a 400-acre agricultural company with 350 employees and five distribution centers across the Southwest.

Throughout their career, they have demonstrated a strong record of operational improvement, strategic growth, and organizational transformation. At Mellano & Company, they led the company through the recession, improving profitability from an $800,000 loss to $900,000 in profit, reducing expenses by 21%, increasing gross margins, implementing LEAN productivity initiatives, expanding wholesale operations, and launching new revenue-generating divisions. Earlier in their career, they served in progressively senior operations roles before beginning a seven-year career as a commissioned Infantry Officer in the United States Army. As a top graduate and recipient of the George C. Marshall Award, they held leadership and intelligence positions and led combat and humanitarian missions during Operation Restore Democracy in Haiti. They hold an MBA from the University of Phoenix, a B.A. in Political Science from California State University, Long Beach, and completed the Leadership Development Program at the Center for Creative Leadership. They have also been a ten-year member of Vistage CEO Group 3080 and have remained active in executive coaching, mentoring, and professional leadership development.