Debra Borchardt

Debra Borchardt is the Co-Founder and CEO of Green Market Media (GMM), a holding company headquartered in New York with a West Coast office in Los Angeles and a satellite office in Denver. GMM is positioned to be a leader in cannabis media and will house a portfolio of online media publications centered around the emerging cannabis and hemp industry. This collection of news sites will focus on the niche areas of finance, the plant as a commodity, business, tech, as well as the craft of fine cannabis cultivation and branding. The first site to launch under this newly formed media portfolio, is the Green Market Report (GMR).

Even with the growing number of cannabis business and lifestyle websites making their way onto the scene, Debra found that there was not an existing news site strictly focused on the financial side of the cannabis industry. Therefore, GMR was conceived to fill this existing void within the space for a credible financial news reporting source outside of existing mainstream publications that focus on finance and markets such as Bloomberg News, Wall Street Journal or Dow Jones & Company. In addition to providing financial news and information tools for  financial companies, GMR will feature its flagship weekly program Marijuana Minute which will be shot on location in Manhattan.

After recognizing that the end of cannabis prohibition was the biggest news story of decade, Borchardt became one of the first journalists to bring the cannabis story mainstream. She is a regular contributor for Forbes and the cannabis lifestyle website Civilized. In addition to writing for these websites, Borchardt recently launched a subscription only finance focused newsletter on the Seeking Alpha Marketplace website titled the Marijuana Money Newsletter.

Early on in the legalization process sweeping the globe, Borchardt understood that market trends for cannabis would begin to attract serious investors, they would soon yield institutional attention and players, cannabis and hemp would inevitably be traded as an agricultural commodity and thus Wall Street would begin to accept it as an economic force…and that all of this required experienced financial voices and analysts to navigate as the industry professionalism and foundation took shape.

The early access and coverage Borchardt was granted have provided her with a level of experience and exposure specific to the industry that has positioned her as an authority on all things cannabis finance and business. The combination of her insight into the business and financial landscapes, along with her established relationships with the industry’s top business and thought leaders, Borchardt will now leverage her unique position and vast experience in finance, cannabis and journalism to provide the industry with credible news sources that operate with journalistic integrity, transparency and legitimacy. Borchardt has appeared on The Today Show, CNBC, CNN as well as numerous radio shows and podcasts. She is also a frequent panel moderator and speaker at cannabis conferences and seminars throughout the country.

Borchardt began her career in finance within the securities industry, where she held a variety of jobs that ranged from equities to fixed income and from the trading floor to the back office. During this time, she was exposed to many of the intricate areas of Wall Street and held Series 7 and Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) licenses. Before entering the burgeoning cannabis market, Borchardt held her last position as a Vice President at Bear Stearns. She left this station to earn her Master’s Degree in Business and Economic Reporting from New York University. After completing her program, she embarked on a career as a financial journalist and spent eight years at TheStreet.com working daily with Jim Cramer. As a senior producer and reporter at TheStreet.com, Borchardt honed her skills as a journalist earning an award from ASPBE.org (American Society of Business Publication Editors) in 2014 for Best Video – News, “Guess Where People Want To Buy Pot.”