Marijuana Business Magazine July 2019

Marijuana Business Magazine | July 2019 138 Industry Players | New Hires & Promotions pet food subsidiary. Kevin Cole , for- merly vice president of marketing for Mars Petcare Canada, was appointed president of True Leaf Pet. Mars Petcare brands include Pedigree, Whiskas and IAMS. True Leaf said Cole will help the company expand into new markets and sell cannabis pet products directly to consumers. Cole is True Leaf’s latest hire from traditional pet-care giants. Earlier this year, True Leaf Pet appointed Jodi Watson, former senior vice president of Petco, to its board of directors. New CEO Behind the Wheel at Driven Deliveries San Diego-based Driven Deliveries hired Christian Schenk as its CEO. He succeeds Chris Boudreau , the cannabis delivery company’s CEO since its inception, who will stay on in an advisory role. Schenk is a Canadian-born entre- preneur and investor who previously developed and sold two telematics companies: Telkar, based in Canada, and Elcon, based in Europe. In 2010, Schenk joined Minnesota software business XATA after its acquisition of Turnpike Global and Geologic. Driven also brought on Brad Dalmann as sales director and Lance Ott as director of business development. Dalmann is a former brand manager of Weedmaps and also previously worked at California cannabis companies Quality Resources and Flav, where he gained experience in track-and-trace compliance, large- scale production as well as product manufacturing and distribution. Ott is a former director of National Bank of California and founded three cannabis-focused banking and financial services companies: Cirrata Ventures, Guardian Data Systems and Bankcard Brokers. Ott also serves on the Regulatory Advisory Board for the Los Angeles Cannabis Task Force and the West Hollywood Bank Working Group. NCIA Nabs New Policy Director The National Cannabis Industry Association hired Andrew Kline as its new director of public policy. Kline most recently served as president of the National Association of Cannabis Businesses, which created national standards for the marijuana industry. Before joining the NACB, Kline was special counsel for the Federal Communications Commission’s Enforcement Bureau and also served as chief of staff and senior adviser for Intellectual Property Enforcement in the Obama administration, where he led public-private partnerships and public policy efforts to address online trademark theft, copyright infringement, consumer safety and other issues.  High Times Catches Fox For CEO High Times Holding Corp., the owner of High Times magazine and related assets, appointed veteran media and live entertainment execu- tive Kraig Fox as president and CEO. Fox will oversee the company’s portfo- lio of media, events and licensed prop- erties. Adam Levin , who served as High Times’ CEO since its acquisition by High Times Holding Corp. in 2017, will become the company’s executive chair. Fox has held senior executive positions at Live Nation and Core Media and also served as senior man- aging director of entertainment and media at Guggenheim Partners and, most recently, Eldridge Industries. Connecticut Legalization Effort Gets Co-Directors The Connecticut Coalition to Regu- late Marijuana hired Kebra Smith- Bolden and Adam Wood to serve as co-directors. Smith-Bolden is CEO of Canna- HealthTM, which provides medical cannabis program evaluations and education to disadvantaged commu- nities, and president of Connecticut United for Reform and Equity, which advocates for racial equity in the state’s cannabis industry. Wood has run advocacy campaigns for Pew Charitable Trusts, the Amer- ican Association for Justice, Tesla, the Sierra Club and other entities. Wood’s past posts include political and finance director of the Connect- icut Democratic Party, state Senate spokesman and senior adviser to the campaigns of Gov. Ned Lamont and state Treasurer Denise Nappier. Aphria Resets C-Suite Posts Jakob Ripshtein resigned June 7 from Canadian cannabis giant Aphria, which added several new executives. James Meiers is the new chief operating officer, joining Aphria from The Hain Celestial Group, where he spent 14 years in various executive roles such as president of Celestial Seasonings and Hain Celestial Personal Care, CEO of Hain Pure Protein and chief supply chain officer of Hain Grocery & Snacks. Tim Purdie is the new chief information officer and chief information security officer. Purdie has held successive executive leadership positions as chief operating officer, vice president and chief information officer, and other senior management positions at companies such as Xede Consulting Group, Sandvine, Research In Motion (Blackberry) and OpenText. Maureen Berry is the new vice president of corporate human resources. She previously spent 15 years as the corporate human resources executive at Canada Health Infoway, a digital health-care solutions company. She also was vice president of human resources