Ascend Internship Program

Kellie Seringer founded Symmetry Capital Management; a health-care focused hedge fund, in 2001. 

For 20 years, Symmetry Capital has focused on small to mid-capitalization biotechnology and medical device companies.  In 2020, Symmetry’s limited partnerships will begin investment in the cannabis industry, as a complimentary sector with far more near-term upside potential. 

Kellie has 25 years of public, health care equity experience. Prior to founding Symmetry Capital, she had been a portfolio manager for the EGM Medical Technology Fund in 2000 and 2001. For the year 2000, the strategy was the 5th overall ranked hedge fund, as reported in January 2001 by Barron’s. Prior to EGM, she held equity research analyst positions at Montgomery Securities and Dean Witter Reynolds.  

Besides her love of art, architecture and design, Philanthropy is an important aspect to Ms. Seringer’s life. She has been the President of Friends of Harvey Milk from 2010 – 2019. The Friends of Harvey Milk focuses on funding youth projects central to the mission of equity, academics and social justice in the spirit of the work and life of Harvey Milk, who dedicated his life to creating social justice and equity for all. Additionally, she has been a CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) in San Francisco for over 10 years and has two daughters who were formerly in foster care. Kellie has also served as the President of multiple 501(c)3 school foundations over the last decade. 

Kellie graduated from Texas A&M University with Bachelor of Science degrees in Biochemistry and Genetics.

Geoff Trotter brings more than thirty-five years of executive-level experience to Regennabis Ventures having lived in Europe, Asia-Pacific and now the Americas – undertaking numerous CxO roles in the for-Profit sector [with The Thomson Corporation, Diageo / Guinness World Records, Ernst & Young (serving as a Partner & Chief Knowledge Officer for EY in the Asia-Pacific region) and Sustainable Brands] as well as in the not-for-Profit sector [as the founding consultant with KMPact, an Independent Consultancy focusing on Organizational Capacity Building], and has spent a significant part of his career on solving some of the world’s most pressing challenges.

He relocated to the Bay Area in 2011, initially to study at Presidio Graduate School, before joining Global Footprint Network, a science-based NGO operating out of Oakland, USA, and Geneva, Switzerland in 2012 as their VP of Operations. Geoff is a graduate of Sheffield City Polytechnic [now “Sheffield Hallam University”] in the UK where he studied for an Honours Degree in Metallurgy, Microstructural Engineering & Material Science. He also holds a postgraduate qualification in International Marketing from London’s University of the Arts.

Whilst an obvious advocate of both social & environmental issues facing all of us today, Geoff is firmly in the “Business of Sustainability” and is passionate about assisting cross-sector collaboration in the Cannabis Industry through innovation in Sustainability Development.

Patrick McCartan co-founded Regennabis, a leading professional services company centered in the cannabis and hemp Industry. A purpose driven entrepreneur, he entered the cannabis industry in 2016 to advance sustainability and ESG frameworks, aligned to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Patrick's aspiration is to help cannabis companies grow and deliver sustainable success and his vision is to drive regenerative growth for all in the cannabis industry. He has launched multiple companies in the cannabis space and been influential in building the foundations of nascent cannabis industries around the globe.

Patrick works with publicly listed Canadian LPs,, US MSO's and launched his own fully licensed cannabis cultivation company in Colombia. He has facilitated the growth of new global supply chains, commercial development and is an investor and advisor to many cannabis CPG brands from Jamaica, South Africa to Hong Kong. 

Prior to moving into Cannabis, Patrick spent over a decade working at the coalface of corporate sustainability with Fortune 500 brands including Unilever, P&G, Amazon and BASF.
Patrick graduated from Dublin Institute of Technology with a Masters Degree in Energy Management & Sustainability, and has two undergraduate degrees from University College Dublin, a Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Arts.