Frank Salluce, Co-Founder of 420 IT Solutions – Interview Series

Given the relative youth of the American cannabis industry and the vast amount of patient medical data that must be safely stored, the technological and IT security needs of cannabis businesses and physicians alike are of utmost importance. As data leaks and cyberattacks become increasingly common, implementing secure technologies is paramount to providing high-quality service.

To gain a deeper understanding of these technological requirements—and to discuss its recent acquisition by Safe Harbor Financial—mycannabis.com had the pleasure of speaking with Frank Salluce, Co-Founder of 420 IT Solutions.

What topics did you primarily study while attending Rutgers, and how did being a member of a Greek Life organization help you in both your studies and professional pursuits?

My major was Human Ecology, and I studied and was interest in all things concerning our world, I was also interested in botany and have always loved all plants and enjoy gardening especially my favorite plant cannabis. Greek life was also a positive in that I have lifelong friends and brothers that form a great network and positive in my life.

What inspired you to attend Seton Hall to obtain your Master’s in Public Administration? How did that degree help you better understand the many societal issues caused by cannabis prohibition?

The original thought to this was to have a higher degree that was required to become a licensed health officer and have job where I could work 35 hours a week and surf the rest of the time. Ah, the dreams of a 22 year old. I am a REHS in the state of NJ Registered Environmental Health Specialist (ie: Public Health Official) I saw first hand how cannabis was portrayed by then public health policies which included even drug screening for cannabis in order for me to be a health official, which was pretty lame.

Prior to founding 420 IT Solutions, what industries did you work in, and how did those positions help you understand and apply the subjects of proper IT services and technologies?

I worked public health, telecommunications, and in the private sector with a large high ends food distributor as their internal health official QC Director for food safety and food quality. The telecom work helped the most in terms of IT advisory services, the other jobs helped me understand about standard and how important it is to keep them to ensure trust in you and your product or services, which applies to all services I provide.

What would you say were the deciding factors when it came to creating 420 IT Solutions? What deficiencies of proper services in the cannabis industry did you hope to solve with founding the company? We saw a need to provide high quality value priced audit, advisory assurance, and other business services to help cannabis business owners and operators people make smart decisions to help make their cannabis businesses more profitable.

Because you started the company way back in 2009, how would you describe the first few years of the company’s existence? Because Colorado and Washington legalizing cannabis was still years away, how did the medical-only markets impact the overall operations of 420 IT Solutions?

Talk about a literal pipe dream. My business partner and best friend, David Smokler, were literally talking house in my kitchen doing a bong hit and talking about what we were currently working on and what would be next.  420 IT Solutions was born with the idea that medical cannabis doctors writing cannabis recommendations for their patients would need to protect their patient data which we thought may be commingled with regular practice patient data through data interfaces or systems that would be subject to HIPPA regulations and considered PHI. So what does a medical cannabis doctor need??

We thought let’s help them protect all data with the same care and that was 2009. We also thought “let’s help dispensaries run like other businesses and implement software and technology in their operations” again during 2009. We also thought that who ever provided banking to these folks would need our services.

What services does 420 IT Solutions offer to its clients, and what is the grand importance of those services offered?

Onsite compliance audits which help ensure that cannabis operators are following rules and that their businesses continue to receive financial services. We also help companies find business solutions for their business; services such as experienced resources to help with accounting or finance. We help stand up the cannabis industry by providing access to experienced timely advice and needed business services.

Because compliance is such a major part of the services offered by 420 IT Solutions, how do those duties in ensuring proper compliance change depending on the state that the client is located in? I would imagine the rules and regulations fluctuate a little. We have process where we use technology, partners relationships and actual hands-on, boots on the ground experience over 17 years.

Congratulations on the acquisition by Safe Harbor Financial! What all went into the acquisition, and why do you feel like it’s a fitting pairing?

When we were only 420 IT Solutions, we basically offered only our core services which consisted of banking compliance, audit (both IT and financial) and services pertaining to business assurance and due diligence. What this means is we can sell banking services, loans and financing, accounting and bookkeeping, HR, cybersecurity, data analytics, the list goes on, meaning through this powerful alliance which includes a network of proven industry titans we can provide immense value and do so with even more quality speed and scale. A really cool fact! 420 IT Solution was the first to provide professional services in cannabis and Safe Harbor was the first to provide financial services to cannabis.

Whenever cannabis is officially rescheduled to Schedule III following President Trump’s executive order, how would such a monumental reform impact the operations of 420 IT Solutions? Would the differences be large or would it be mostly business as usual?

I believe we will be able to provide our clients with an entire ecosystem of business services that have only been traditionally available to industries other than cannabis, which would certainly be beneficial in future growth. But the good thing is there are existing global markets Canada, and emerging markets like Germany, Switzerland, US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico that will keep us rolling.

Thank you for joining us, Frank! For more information on 420 IT Solutions and Safe Harbor Financial, please visit its website.