Chief Executive Officer – April L. Meyers
April L. Meyers is the owner of Northeast Vapor Supplies, LLC located in Connecticut and has been in the business since 2012. Her company has one retail store and manufactures three E-Liquid lines sold throughout the country; New Direction, Rebel Liquids and Thrifty Vapors.

April’s background is in the corporate business world. She began her career managing logistics and staffing for large trade shows, then became an analyst for a consumer ratings company, and then worked as a financials communications professional for global conglomerate Asea, Brown, Boveri.

April has a vast number of skills ranging from executive level management to financial analysis and project planning. April is a strong leader with a proven track record. She works hand in hand with SFATA's Executive Director to ensure the overall vitality of the association and is responsible for a large number of on-going projects.

April has been actively engaged in advocacy since 2012. She served as a co-president for the Connecticut SFATA chapter until she took her role as our organization’s President of the Board of Directors in 2017 and continues to fight passionately for the rights of our member businesses.

Member Services Director – Mandi Tory

Mandi works part-time with our Administration team at SFATA. She has a background in Human Resources and enjoys working with people. Mandi is the owner at Paranormal Blends, LLC. She has also been an active Member of SFATA and served as the Secretary for the Texas Chapter for the last two years.

Responsible Industry Network Compliance Officer – Andrew O'Bright

Andrew started out his professional career in pharmacy, but when the opportunity arose to enter the vapor space, he jumped on it after switching from a 10 year smoking habit. He started in retail management, moved to eliquid manufacturing and sales, and ultimately utilized those experienced to start his own regulatory compliance firm, Bright Consultants,  in early 2019.

During those years he became a grassroots advocate at the retail level.  Andrew's passion and strong leadership skills saw him quickly rise to the role of Vice-President of the Connecticut Chapter of SFATA, and shortly thereafter, President - a responsibility he still holds.

As a compliance consultant Andrew has helped dozens of companies get through to the "accepted" phase of their initial PMTA filings.  Despite FDA’s mass issuance of marketing denial orders, Andrew is proud to support and help all SFATA member businesses, especially those participating in the Responsible Industry Network Program navigate the future. 

 

Legislative Director/Director of State Chapter Relations – Schell Hammel
Schell Hammel is the founder of The Vapor Bar, an retail store with eight locations in Texas, West Virginia, and Virginia. She also owns an AEMSA certified mixing lab, established in 2011. Schell formerly served as the Vice President of the SFATA Board of Directors from 2016-2017 and currently serves on its board as a director.  Schell has also served as the SFATA Texas Chapter President for several years - a role she is well known for. 

Schell has been very active in advocacy, speaking at the FDA, OMB/OIRA, and is heavily involved in State and Federal lobbying of lawmakers about vapor products. She is very passionate about the industry and keeping these products easily accessible to consumers that would like to use them for harm reduction. She actively speaks at events, as well as educates the public regarding vapor products.

Her last corporate position before entering the vapor industry was the Director of a Bariatric Weight loss surgery facility, directing and speaking at seminars, support groups and media. Previously, she worked in other corporate positions, including 15 years in the medical industry. Schell held positions in management both in primary and chiropractic care, and was the Director of Business Development and Marketing for a TENET hospital. She is the active mother of two boys and owner of an event facilities. 

 April L. Meyers, President

April Meyers is the owner of Northeast Vapor Supplies, LLC located in Connecticut and has been in the business since 2012. Her company has one retail store and manufactures three E-Liquid lines sold throughout the country; New Direction, Rebel Liquids and Thrifty Vapors.

April’s background is in the corporate business world. She began her career managing logistics and staffing for large trade shows, then became an analyst for a consumer ratings company, and finished as a financials communications professional for a global conglomerate.

An entrepreneur at heart, she left the corporate world and launched her retail vapor store with her husband. She has been actively engaged in advocacy since the beginning and ultimately helped to pull other Connecticut companies together to fight for their businesses. She served as a co-president for the Connecticut SFATA chapter until she took her role as our organization’s President of the Board of Directors. April has served as SFATA's Board President since 2017. 

Andrew O'Bright, Board Vice-President 

Andrew started out his professional career in pharmacy, but when the opportunity arose to enter the vapor space, he jumped on it after switching from a 10 year smoking habit. He started in retail management, moved to eliquid manufacturing and sales, and ultimately utilized those experienced to start his own regulatory compliance firm, Bright Consultants,  in early 2019.

During those years he became a grassroots advocate at the retail level.  Andrew's passion and strong leadership skills saw him quickly rise to the role of Vice-President of the Connecticut Chapter of SFATA, and shortly thereafter, President - a responsibility he still holds.

As a compliance consultant Andrew has helped dozens of companies get through to the "accepted" phase of their initial PMTA filings.  Despite FDA’s mass issuance of marketing denial orders, Andrew is proud to support and help all SFATA member businesses, especially those participating in the Responsible Industry Network Program navigate the future. 

Shaun Casey, Board Treasurer

When it comes to advocacy, Shaun is no-holds-barred.  After quitting smoking in 2010 via vapor, he never looked back.  Where a need arose in the industry, Shaun was there to fill it, beginning with the formation of the Canadian Vaping Association (CVA) in 2014 to help ensure that vapor products remained available to adult consumers.  To this day, Shaun occupies an active role on the association's Board of Directors.

Through his work with CVA, and with the help of others, the organization crafted regulatory framework for vaping in Canada, carving out vapor as a separate consumer product and the first legal change to Canada's Tobacco Act (now called the Tobacco and Vaping Act) in 37 years.

Having many interests in the United States, Shaun has been an active member of SFATA and has formerly served on the boards of AEMSA and VTA.  Shaun's company, Flavour Art, N.A.., retains its own regulatory legal firm on contract in Washington D.C., which he uses to serve the interests of the vapor industry.

In 2019, Shaun worked cohesively with other associations to form the North American Vapor Alliance (NAVA), and in June of the same year, coordinated the industry's first GMP symposium in Los Angeles, CA, assembling manufacturers of all sizes together with industry experts to create a set of industry standards.

Board Secretary, Monica Schick
Monica is the CEO of North Guide Solutions and the creator of the Vapor Quality Summit. She entered the vapor industry in 2015 to help create quality systems for a for-profit vapor company in lieu of 2016 deeming regulations. After noticing regulatory and quality disparities within the industry, Monica decided to branch off into consulting and has since spoken at numerous events and joined advocates in Washington to fight for vapers' rights.

Monica's specialty is the creation of quality systems and compliance. She has worked with multiple companies throughout the PMTA process, including vapor, pouch, and alternative chewing tobacco. Her duties in the PMTA process have ranged from data dissemination, technical writing, project management, and quality creation.

My unique position in the vapor space has provider her with a deep and diverse understanding of the problems plague the industry.  Monica hopes to make a difference for long-lasting success through her role with SFATA leadership. As she turns forty, she is adamant about reaching adult smokers before the turn of age, with the hope they can regain life years lost from tobacco smoke.

Charles Archambeau, Director

Charles started his vape career with humble beginnings seven years ago doing shop-to-shop sales in the Lion’s Den of Vape Shops — Los Angeles Area — selling unknown boutique e-liquid brands from around the country. Post-Deeming Regs, Charles took a role as the Director of Sales for Café Racer, where he continued to expand his network through appearing at numerous vape-related trade shows and events throughout the USA. When the tradeshow market began to slow, Charles expanded his network and skills yet again and assumed a position with Chubby Gorilla as their International Sales Director. For five years, Charles spearheaded the company’s global development into over 100 countries, providing the only fully compliant bottle in each market. At the end of 2021, Charles parted ways with Chubby Gorilla to return to the United States and focus on other endeavors.

Charles’ professional background offers him a unique perspective of the challenges faced by the vapor industry around the globe – a perspective he is eager to use in assisting all the sector’s businesses. Charles is passionate about helping people quit smoking and has an unquenchable desire to reform our redundant and cumbersome legislative system. Further, he is extremely excited to be a part of the SFATA Board of Directors and looks forward to making progress in a few key areas, such as global messaging and overcoming a range of industry issues.

Taylor Cage, Director 

Taylor Cage started in the vaping industry after tenure in PR and Marketing and has since become an avid advocate and respected opinion leader. As a sales executive for the past 5 years, first for Alchem USA and NicSelect, and later as VP of Sales for North America Nicotine, Taylor has a unique understanding of how the industry works and great relationships with key players.

Taylor is a freelance consultant. She believe that compliance and youth access prevention are cornerstones of legitimizing vaping as a viable alternative to deadly combustible cigarettes that remain on the market. “It’s really satisfying to provide a level of protection through SFATA's RIN program to retailers, distributors and manufacturers that operate responsibly.”

Taylor is a board member of Tobacco Harm Reduction 4 Life (established to help smokers regain control over their lives by providing balanced and accurate information about tobacco harm reduction), and a founding organizer of the Grinch Relief Fund (established to provide holiday financial assistance to industry members facing hardship due to regulatory overreach).

Scott Eley, Director

Scott Eley is the co-owner of VaporCast retail stores founded in 2010, co-owner of NicQuid an e-liquid manufacturer and contract manufacturer founded as a joint venture in 2012, and co-owner of Flavors United, a distributor of vapor products founded in 2015, which are all based in Ohio. Additionally, Scott co-founded the American E-liquid Manufacturing Standards Association (AEMSA) in 2012 and co-founded the Ohio Vapor Trade Association (OHVTA) in 2014. Scott currently serves as President of AEMSA and OHVTA and Chief Compliance Officer for NicQuid and Flavors United. 

Scott’s corporate pedigree includes working as a Global IT Security Architect for some of the largest corporations in the world and the military. Bringing that experience into the vapor industry in the regulatory and compliance arenas, as well as a strong passion for vaping products, he realized early that Government oversight and regulations were inevitable and the vapor industry needed to engage with governments and agencies, at all levels, sooner rather than later. 

Scott has met with FDA in listening sessions on 15 occasions, met with OMB on 4 occasions, has had weekly top level HHS meetings that occurred over multiple months, and was chosen to represent vapor industry manufacturing safety standards when the President hosted the 2019 White House Roundtable on Teen Vaping and E-Cigarettes. Scott has been a guest speaker at previous SFATA and other industry conferences in the US and internationally.

Schell Hammel, Director

Schell Hammel is the owner of The Vapor Bar (est. 2011), Maxwell Elixir (est. 2018), and The BumbleBee Ranch (est. 2020). She has been a passionate advocate in the vapor industry since 2013, presenting at national conventions, the FDA, and the OMB. Schell has spoken on podcasts, news radio, and has been quoted in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, among many others, educating about the benefits and science of vapor products. 

Her passions lie in vapor education and politics, and Schell is adamant about protecting civil liberties, civil rights, and the Constitution. She has directed and produced several national and statewide conferences, conventions, fundraisers, and national movements, such as Hands For A Billion Lives and The Dallas Cowboy Kickoff Luncheon.

As the SFATA TX Chapter President, Schell has actively fought in her home state, defeating 32 bills, while helping to write language for the only two bills in effect there - Tobacco 21 and vapor permit licensing. She is the first to have an amendment in her state prohibiting cities and municipalities from passing laws on vapor products and made national headlines with some of her vapor state law strategies.

Schell resides in Hockley, Texas at The BumbleBee Ranch with her two dogs, two horses, and youngest son still at home. She loves practicing performance riding to soon become part of rodeos. She also works for a local hospital as a physician recruiter and manages her event barn for weddings and local events, all while running her three vapor shops, educating others, and fighting bills for the state of Texas.  

Kimberly Hesse, Director
Ms. Kimberly Hesse is the Vice-President of Sales & Marketing for McKinney Regulatory Science Advisors.  She earned her Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees from Kent State University and attended Arizona State University’s School of International Business Management.

Her career in the nicotine and cannabis industry began in January 2008 in Hamburg, Germany, where she trained in laboratory instrumentation and its application in the analysis of crop protection agents. Over the years, Ms. Hesse has expanded her expertise and now works closely with both the pharmaceutical and tobacco laboratory industries.  

She is a recognized expert in the areas of laboratory testing and the regulatory requirements of the tobacco industry. Due to her extensive knowledge, Ms. Hesse has spoken at numerous U.S. domestic and international industry events. Kim served in the SFATA Board of Directors as its Board Secretary from 2016-2017 and returned to the board in 2022 to assist in her areas of expertise.