CEO & Senior Chemist

Lendell Hawley is the heart of the Hawley Hemp Labs company. The CEO and senior chemist has amassed 30 years in the pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturing industries, using his extensive experience to establish the family business and help lead the growing hemp movement in East Texas. The patriarch oversees all company and lab operations, farming technology and analytical processes. His founding also continues on the family legacy as his father was a cattle rancher and grandfather, a tobacco farmer on the same land still used to grow Hawley Hemp today. The CEO is passionate about the success of, not only his own family, but the farming community from every facet of the supply chain, from cultivation to extraction and consulting.

Hawley’s decades of hands-on work with quality and manufacturing processes now allow HHL to operate effectively using the best possible practices for exceptional hemp production. Throughout his career, he has directed quality control analytical labs in FDA and ISO regulated environments, and conducted environmental testing and monitoring. He has also ran statistical analysis of lab and equipment performances to identify optimization and improvement opportunities. Hawley has served in those supervisory roles for Pfizer, INVISTA and Dow Chemical Company, among many more.

In addition to overseeing all business and lab operations, Hawley has also spent more than five years as a career and technology instructor for Austin Independent School District, teaching engineering, forensic science, and integrated physics and chemistry. His teaching tenure includes previous years of instruction at the high school and collegiate levels in the Austin and Houston areas. Hawley himself owns a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and biochemistry from the University of North Texas and an MBA from Winthrop University.

COO & Growing Specialist

Aaron manages all greenhouse and farming processes as the chief of operations and growing specialist. He built the greenhouse and all equipment necessary for optimal growing and harvesting, and has committed himself to cultivating the highest-quality, naturally-grown hemp to help Texas become one of the nation’s top producers.

Aaron accepted the lead farming role after having success with a green thumb growing a variety of other crops. CBD specifically became a critical part of his self-care routine when the coronavirus pandemic affected his mental health. This encouraged a new interest in learning how the chemical compound could be cultivated and crafted for holistic use. Family continues to motivate his work with cannabis as he has witnessed firsthand how hemp has brought mental and physical healing to family members. He also understands how the hemp industry and the family business can offer a path to build generational wealth and provide future economic opportunities.

Prior to joining the company, Aaron has worked as a researcher, analyst and professor of sociology with 13 years of research and analysis experience in a variety of industries and settings. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in political science and sociology, respectively, from Texas A&M University - Kingsville and a master’s degree in data analytics from the University of Texas at Dallas.

CMO & Sales

Shani Michelle Hawley heads all marketing and industry research efforts, and manages sales and partnership opportunities. Her initial investment in the family business not only fulfilled her entrepreneurial spirit and love for growing other plants, but was also a therapeutic escape from the challenges brought on by the pandemic. She firmly believes in the health benefits cannabis can offer after bearing witness to friend and family testimonials.

Her ultimate goal for the HHL brand is to be a resource for her family, and other families and cannabis farmers in East Texas. Being part of a Black-owned business, it’s important to her that more Black-owned and women-owned companies have opportunities to learn about the legal industry and prosper in their own endeavors.

Hawley is also the founder of Genesis 7 Consulting, LLC, and is the company’s principal image and marketing consultant. After graduating from the University of North Texas with a BBA in marketing and a minor in fashion merchandising, she began a career in the automotive marketing technology industry before establishing Genesis 7 to mentor and uplift individuals and their businesses.