Corey Barnette
District Growers Cultivation Center & Metropolitan Wellness Center
Corey Barnette has lived in Washington, D.C. since 1999 and currently owns District Growers cultivation center and the Metropolitan Wellness Center dispensary – both licensed in Washington D.C. Prior to founding District Growers, he previously served as President and Chairman of the Board for the San Diego Medical Collective and the Chi Holistic Collective, both medical marijuana dispensaries with in-house growing and production facilities. Prior to stepping down, the combined patient membership of the collectives he managed exceeded 12,000 and were noted as two of the 10 largest dispensary operations in the San Diego Area.
Barnette has also served as the Co-Founder and Managing Director of The Scroll Companies, a buy-out firm focused on small businesses with significant growth opportunities. During his time as the Managing Member of the Scroll Companies, Barnette purchased and operated businesses in a number of different industries, including but not limited to Transportation, Sports and Entertainment, Equipment Auctioning, medical marijuana and Pharmaceutical Testing. Barnette has significant experience identifying and capitalizing on growth opportunities in developing industries.
Barnette received a M.B.A degree from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Tennessee Technological University. Barnette regularly speaks at Howard University’s Business School, Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, University of Maryland and various entrepreneurship forums regarding investing in developing industries. Barnette is also a routine speaker at the Capital Round Table’s forum on Independent Private Equity Sponsors and the Washington, DC Office of Small and Local Business Development’s forums on entrepreneurship, business growth and access to capital. Barnette is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi, Fraternity Incorporated. He lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife Kim and two daughters, Kelci and Cierra.
