ELI’s Co-Founder and Executive Vice President, Thomas Hoffman brings agricultural expertise to ELI as an experienced farmer and expert in the cultivation of industrial hemp fiber crops. Thomas also has extensive entrepreneurial experience managing start-ups and nonprofits supporting his community.

Thomas founded and operates, along with his family, a nonprofit called Tri-County Rescue Inc. in Central Georgia, which serves as a no-kill animal shelter and rescue facility, as well provides the support for Warrior Acres, a veterans recovery and relief center focused on rehabilitating current and former members of the armed forces suffering from PTSD and traumatic brain injuries (TBI).

Passionate about early-childhood education and development, Thomas runs the Young Magic Mindz community where parents, teachers and counselors can share powerful learning tools and techniques developed to enhance literacy in children at an extremely young age, thereby providing a significant developmental boost that carries through adolescence and into adulthood. The Young Magic Mindz initiative shows that infants can learn the fundamentals of reading long before they are even able to speak- a concept proven by his own son’s ability to read at only 7-months-old. 

In 2017, Thomas joined the local Volunteer Fire Department, after completing several training courses and was appointed Chief Training Officer and later, the Fire Chief. Today, he is a licensed Emergency Medical Technician who serves on two rural EMS services. Thomas met Bryan Wilson while working in EMS, where their relationship would develop into a business partnership with the goal of reigniting the domestic industrial hemp fiber Industry.