Executive Board
Ted Haney
Board Chair
President & Ceo
Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance (CHTA)
Calgary, AB, Canada
Ted Haney manages the Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance – representing the industry in both domestic and international markets. Ted’s dedication to international cooperation within the global hemp industry has been demonstrated by his leading roles in: facilitating cooperative hemp research and standards development within the CHTA; elevating the profile of hemp within the ASTM International Cannabis Committee (D37) and Co-Chairing its Industrial Hemp Subcommittee (D37.07); and, forming the Federation of International Hemp Organizations.
Ted earned his MSc in Agriculture (1991) from the University of Alberta; specializing in natural resource economics. Ted managed Canada’s national beef export organization in a diverse cultural environment for 20 years. While serving on the International Meat Secretariate Executive Council, he represented that organization in the FAO Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock process.
Ted was appointed as Federation of International Hemp Organizations (FIHO) interim Board Chair in March 2022 and elected as Board Chair in November 2022. He is committed to FIHO success. Ted enjoys working cooperatively with Directors, members, and key stakeholders in developing FIHO as a vital organization that allows the global hemp industry to collaborate, coordinate, communicate, and remove key barriers to industry growth and development.
Top 3 Board Skills
Governance, Policy/Advocacy, Leadership/Teamwork
Daniel Kruse
Director, Board Vice-Chair
Board Member
European Industrial Hemp Association (EIHA)
Brussels, Belgium
In 1995, Daniel started his career in the industrial hemp industry to realise his vision: the successful combination of ecology and economy. As the Founder of Hempro International GmbH and Hemp Factory GmbH, two of Europe’s leading hemp players, he has decades of experience in hemp food production.
Daniel has been a Board Member of the European Industrial Hemp Association (EIHA) since 2013. After serving as EIHA President from 2019 to 2025, he continues as a Board Member.
At EIHA Daniel is particularly active in his field of knowledge of cannabinoids in foods. His cooperation with international experts and the advisory committee of EIHA combines the profound know-how from practice and science in the hemp and food industry.
Daniel was appointed as the Federation of International Hemp Organizations (FIHO) interim Vice-Chair March 2022 and elected as Vice Board Chair in November 2022. Serving as a FIHO Director allows him to assist the global hemp industry reach its ecological and economic goals.
Top 3 Board Skills
Business/Management, Risk Management, Hemp Food ProcessingPresident
European Industrial Hemp Association (EIHA)
Brussels, Belgium
Hunter Buffington
Director and Treasurer
In my current on the Policy Committee of the National Industrial Hemp Council, I utilize my experience in emerging industries and system modeling to review and understand federal and state policy, legislation, regulation and research impacts on the hemp industry. This includes reviewing legislation, rules and statutes and working closely with researchers and Departments of Agriculture. I also own and operate Ag Policy Solutions, which provides services that connect innovative agribusinesses and farmers to resources, research, and partners that accelerate opportunities to benefit rural economies.
I received my Master’s degree in 2010 in Nonprofit Management and sustainable development using system applications. I have worked internationally with marginalized communities working to develop their economies and mitigate climate pressures. In the hemp industry I was the executive Director of the Colorado Hemp Industries Association from its beginning in 2014 until I became the executive director for the Hemp Feed Coalition from 2018-2021, when I then joined Santa Fe Farms.
There is a need for global engagement and collaboration to ensure that industrial hemp can reach its full market potential and access. To achieve this researchers and policy experts from across the globe need to work together to overcome the stigma of cannabis and stabilize the hemp supply chain to grow hemp markets across the world. While the US is still developing hemp knowledge and production; many parts of the world never suffered prohibition; meanwhile climate change and the emerging carbon market need to be synergized with agriculture production and manufacturing processes. As a FIHO Director, I work to bring these goals to fruition.
Top 3 Board Skills
Governance, Business/Management, Legal/Regulatory
Charles Kovess
Director AND Secretary, Communications & Engagement Committee Co-Chair, Policy and Regulation Committee Chair
President
Australian Industrial Hemp Alliance (AIHA)
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
CEO of Textile & Composite Industries Pty Ltd, Australian supplier of the D8 Decorticator. Since 2012. Secretary of Australian Industrial Hemp Alliance since 2017 and Charles became President in 2023.
Practised as commercial and tax lawyer for 20 years, after graduating with Honours Degree in Law. Also gained Masters Degree in Law a few years later. Partner in the 10th largest law firm in Australia before changing career in 1993 to be a professional speaker, educator, author and executive coach, focusing on passion, leadership, strategy and team building. Consulted to 35 of Australia’s largest corporations over the years on these fields.
As a FIHO Director, Charles brings an Australian perspective to global expansion of hemp and the desire to contribute the benefit of 29 years’ experience in hemp from TCI that has been passed on to him. Charles is committed to hemp becoming a mainstream, large agribusiness globally, rather than a cottage industry.
Top 3 Board Skills
Governance, Business/Management, Legal/Regulatory
Herrick (Rick) Fox
Secretary General
As FIHO’s Secretary General, Herrick (“Rick”) Fox works to elevate the global hemp industry and operationalize its opportunities by strategically developing relationships and collaborations with multilateral institutions and other international organizations. Previously, Rick served for 18 years with the US Department of Agriculture, most recently as the Department’s senior staff official on bioeconomy, and before that in senior technical and executive roles in international agricultural development and forestry.
In connection with this background Rick also holds a 2026 faculty appointment in bioeconomy at the University of California, Berkeley, and consults governments and multilateral institutions on international bioeconomy development. Integration of industrial hemp in the global bioeconomy is thus one of Rick’s overarching objectives in his role with FIHO.
Fluent in Russian, conversational in German, aspirational in French, and eager to learn any other language he encounters, Rick also has 5+ years of international experience in the hemp industry, including leadership experience in business, policy, and program development. He has also led government-supported research on industrial hemp value chains in Czech Republic, France, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Ukraine.
When he’s not navigating cavernous halls of bureaucracy or ivory towers of academia, Rick spends his spare time practicing gravity management on the mountainsides of northern Vermont, striving valiantly to keep up with his teenagers.
