Meet the head of New Mexico’s Cannabis Chamber of Commerce

Ben Lewinger has journeyed from the world of conventional enterprise to the most recent New Mexico frontier: the hashish business.

As soon as an worker of the Higher Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce, Lewinger now leads a a lot “scrappier,” however related, group: the New Mexico Hashish Chamber of Commerce.

“It’s a lot to my chagrin to search out myself on this place now,” Lewinger says. “I’m a hard-core progressive, and oftentimes, my private views don’t align with the views of business.

“What I do know how you can do very well is dealer concepts and assist individuals perceive greater image issues in all conditions. I believe my area of interest is engaged on actually messy, difficult issues which are going to make the world a greater place.”

Lewinger’s function on the conventional chamber was heading the Albuquerque Reads program, which pairs volunteer tutors with elementary college students. He additionally has been state director of Moms In opposition to Drunk Driving and a director on the New Mexico Group Basis.

However his largest tasks got here along with his function at Methods 360, a nationwide public coverage and advertising and marketing agency. Lewinger was on the workforce that helped launch the New Mexico United soccer workforce, and he labored on a profitable tax-boost proposal for the BioPark in 2015. He now runs the Fable Communications advertising and marketing firm with a childhood finest pal.

However Lewinger nonetheless holds quick to a childhood dream: turning into a faith trainer.

“I believe faith creates and conveys which means,” Lewinger says. “It’s how we transfer what’s essential and what issues from technology to technology. From a really younger age, I knew I needed to be a faith trainer. So if any of your readers works at UNM or CNM …”

How did you get entangled within the hashish chamber?

“I used to be suckered into it. I’m not a hashish advocate. I take each alternative I can to acknowledge that there are advocates who’ve been engaged on this for actually many years in New Mexico. I used to be simply offered with this chance to step in and take over 9 months into its existence. I believe hashish goes to be enjoyable and difficult for awhile.”

Did something shock you in regards to the rollout of leisure marijuana?

“I all the time say every part on this business is 20% tougher and 15% dearer. There are issues that until you’ve gotten actually accomplished your homework or until you labored for one of many legacy operators, you wouldn’t know. Like there’s a federal tax code that principally prohibits hashish companies from writing off conventional enterprise bills, which if you happen to didn’t price range for that and also you’re operating a reasonably slim margin, that may be problematic. One of many advantages that can be perhaps one of many weaknesses is it’s really easy to get a license that I believe, sadly, plenty of companies will flip over. It’s an excellent aggressive business, and it’s extremely regulated. The revenue margins are fairly slim, regardless of what individuals would have you ever imagine.”

What was your first job?

“I lied about my age, I believe after I was 15, and acquired a job as a dishwasher. After which after six months, I used to be within the kitchen. It was (a) bar and grill within the East Mountains. I grew up in Tijeras. And I cooked for another eating places and … I used to be a very good bartender. I believe I preferred the mind-numbing skill, within the means of cooking, of making an attempt to get a number of issues to come back up on the identical time, so every part is sizzling when it’s served. And I believe that’s the perfect distraction ever.”

How did you arrive on the purpose of faith trainer?

“I keep in mind the second. I used to be at Greatest Value Books and Espresso. I used to be sitting there with my buddies … and we might do that factor the place we might give ourselves a while, and we might go and search for a guide and convey it again and talk about it. And I might all the time carry again faith books. I keep in mind pondering, ‘I need to educate this, as a result of it’s so cool.’ I picked my undergraduate (training), based mostly on their faith division, at Tufts College.”

The place are your favourite locations on the earth?

“Hawaii, clearly, as a result of I went to (graduate) faculty there. However I acquired in a very unhealthy scooter accident in Hawaii, and satisfied the college … to present me a yr off to work on my thesis (in) Taiwan. My thesis was on animal-headed demons in Chinese language and Jewish in style faith. If you wish to research Chinese language faith, Taiwan was the one place to do it. Numerous non secular establishments and programs and methods of pondering exist in Taiwan nonetheless that don’t exist in China anymore. And that was a very good spot. And I really like New Mexico.”

Do you’ve gotten any regrets?

“No. I simply paid off my school loans just a few months in the past.”

Do you’ve gotten any quirks?

“I’m a Simpsons (TV present) fan. Once I was in school in Boston, I had roommates, who’re nonetheless a few of my finest buddies, and ‘The Simpsons’ was on at 5, 5:30, 10 and 10:30. These had been the times. My buddies, nonetheless, we’ll textual content about actually cryptic Simpsons issues. It’s a contest of who truly is aware of what we’re speaking about. I’ve been watching a variety of ‘Star Trek the Subsequent Technology,’ currently, which I actually get pleasure from as a result of that was one of many issues my dad and I did collectively each Saturday.”

Who evokes you?

“Jean-Luc Picard (a fictional character within the Star Trek sequence) as a result of he was the captain who led a workforce that boldly went the place nobody had gone earlier than.”

THE BASICS: Ben Jacob Lewinger, 42, born in Albuquerque; married to Vanesa Lewinger since 2011; two kids, Makena, 8, and Willa Leona, 5; three pets, Ubie, a brown canine, and Ziggy and Gandalf, each cats; grasp’s diploma in Asian religions, College of Hawaii, 2008; certificates in Mandarin language, Nationwide Taiwan Regular College, 2006; bachelor’s in comparative faith, Tufts College, 2002.

POSITIONS: Government director, New Mexico Hashish Chamber of Commerce since 2019; co-founder, Fable Communications, since 2019; senior vice chairman, Methods 360, 2015-2019; state government director, Moms In opposition to Drunk Driving, 2013-15; director of communications and collaborative partnerships, New Mexico Group Basis, 2012-13; vice chairman of Reads and Management, Higher Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce, 2010-2012.

OTHER: Board member, Paws and Stripes, since 2016; appointed member, Bernalillo County DWI Planning Council, since 2012; founding board member of the Younger Nonprofit Skilled Community of New Mexico, 2011-2016.