9.5.25 - PBC 2025 - Capital Moves: Mavericks in DC

By Alan Gaul, VP of Marketing & Brand, TASI Bank

Two days. One capital city. A whole lot of firepower in cannabis banking, payments, and compliance. That was the vibe at PBC 2025, where the halls of the Capital Hilton became less “conference center” and more “control center” for the future of our industry.

Day One: The Spark

The doors cracked open and Joshua Radbod, PBC’s CEO, lit the match with a welcome that reminded everyone why this conference is the crossroads for policy, finance, and compliance. Then came Jim Cole, former U.S. Deputy Attorney General, dropping truth grenades on enforcement clarity and legal realities—no fluff, just hard-edged perspective.

From there, it was a masterclass in brains, boldness, and blunt talk. Daniela Williams (Paylient), Peter Su (First Central Savings Bank), Andrew Cooper (Falcon Rappaport & Berkman), and Jill Scher (CBIZ) set the tone with banker insight and industry heat. On the legal front, Christine Bailey, Eric Berlin, and crew unpacked the messy, nuanced side of cannabis compliance like only battle-tested lawyers can.

The regulators weren’t shy either—Nicole Elliott, Kimberly Roy, and others shared straight-from-the-trenches takes on how states are stitching together their legalization roadmaps. If you were in the room, you walked away with a fresh respect for just how complicated—but how possible—the future really is.

And yes, we have to call it: Robert Baron of StandardC owned the compliance conversation, and Delene Gilbert from Prism Bank brought the banker’s edge we all needed. Mavericks recognize Mavericks.
 

Day Two: The Surge

If Day One sparked the fire, Day Two fanned the flames. Regulators and bankers dug deeper into the hard stuff—risk management, transaction monitoring, and the fine art of keeping your institution on the right side of the examiner. No jargon, no ivory-tower nonsense—just practitioners talking about how they actually do it.

The Keynote: Diving into The Oklahoma Market - Oklahoma’s cannabis market is trading in its wild-west badge for a compliance hard hat. Adria Berry and the OMMA team are moving fast—recalls and retesting underscore that product safety is real, the new Managing Owner rule makes straw owners a thing of the past, and July’s wave of legislation has stacked on new packaging, labeling, and background-check requirements. With 1,800 dispensaries and 3,000 grows, Oklahoma still leads the nation in density, but now the oversight is finally catching up. Translation: patients win, serious operators win, and the state is laying the scaffolding for a more durable, trusted industry.

Then came the big reveal: the PBC Cannabis Banking Certification Program. Not just another badge, but a legit framework for turning compliance knowledge into career equity. Translation: the industry now has a training ground for the professionals who will build the bridge from cannabis commerce to mainstream banking.

The Maverick Takeaways

• Leaders Leading: From Radbod to Cole, from Elliott to Roy, from Baron to Gilbert—this was top-shelf thought leadership without the ego trip.
• Real Conversations: Panels didn’t pander. They admitted the problems, mapped the landmines, and shared how they’re walking through them anyway.
• Momentum Matters: With certification programs, new playbooks, and fresh coalitions forming in hallway conversations, the industry didn’t just talk change—it built it.

Final Word

PBC 2025 was never just a gathering. It was a declaration. Cannabis banking isn’t waiting for the world to catch up—it’s building the infrastructure, one session, one handshake, one Maverick moment at a time.

And from where I sat in D.C., the message was loud and clear: the future of cannabis finance isn’t “someday.” It’s happening right now.