Marijuana Business Magazine August 2019

Marijuana Business Magazine | August 2019 124  Green Growth’s ‘Secret’ Hire Columbus, Ohio-based Green Growth Brands appointed Jann Parish as chief marketing officer, Parish most recently was chief marketing officer at Victoria’s Secret, where Green Growth CEO Peter Horvath was once chief operating officer. Before Victoria’s Secret, Parish was with New York City clothing company PVH Corp., where she led marketing campaigns for brands such as Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger. Parish has won several awards, including Brand Innovators’ “100 Most Innovative Women in Marketing.” Vertical Hires Former Gallo Exec Matthew Ippolito , a 15-year employee and former vice president of E.&J. Gallo Winery, has become vice president of sales at Vertical Cos., a vertically integrated, multistate cannabis company. In his former post, Ippolito led Gallo Winery’s 250-employee Northern California affiliated wholesaler, Gallo Sales, as vice president and general sales manager. His history with Gallo began with his father, who worked closely with John Gallo for more than 40 years. More Turnover at Golden Leaf The board of directors at Golden Leaf Holdings , a Toronto-based cannabis company with cultivation, production and retail operations in Canada as well as Nevada and Oregon, appointed John Varghese , currently a director of Golden Leaf, to succeed Karyn Barsa as interim president and CEO. Before Golden Leaf, Varghese held senior management roles within multinational corporations that include Quarterhill, CI Financial, Royal Bank Capital, Midland Walwyn Capital (Merrill Lynch Canada) and Dell Computer. Barsa joined Golden Leaf on Feb. 4 as CFO, but on May 10, he took over as CEO for William Kulczycki . Kulczycki had been CEO for just a few months, replacing previous CEO William Simpson . Controller Jason Benedict will serve as interim CFO until Golden Leaf hires a replacement. More Kellogg Execs Join CBD Firms Heavenly Rx, a CBD investment company based in Toronto, appointed Paul Norman , former president of North America for $13 billion food giant Kellogg Co., as its CEO. During his decades-long tenure at Kellogg, Norman expanded the global reach of brands such as Pop-Tarts, Kashi and Pringles. Heavenly also hired Mike Beedles to serve as chief operating officer and chief technology officer. Beedles most recently served as president of SATO North America, president of SATO Global Solutions and executive officer of SATO Holdings, a global barcode and radio frequency ID chip technology company traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Beedles is also a founding member and board chair of Acuitas Digital, which provides innovative digital retail solu- tions to international companies. In another Kellogg-to-CBD move, Axcentria Pharmaceutical, the parent company of Elevate CBD, appointed Cindy Blum as vice presi- dent of marketing. Based in Chicago, Blum is responsible for leading the branding, marketing and innovation for Elevate. Blum was most recently global brand director at Kellogg, where she expanded the global foot- print of Special K products, snacks and meals. Before Kellogg, Blum was marketing director at Glanbia Per- formance Nutrition, an international nutrition business based in Kilkenny, Ireland. She also has served as senior marketing and innovation manager at PepsiCo and was a sen- ior associate brand and innovation manager at Unilever. Earlier this year, Adrienne “Deanie” Elsner , former president of the $3 billion U.S. snacks division at Kellogg, became the new CEO of Colorado CBD business Charlotte’s Web.  Denver Hires Former Marijuana Business Daily Reporter The Denver Department of Excise and Licenses hired Joey Peña , who was most recently a staff writer for Marijuana Business Daily and Marijuana Business Magazine, to be a process navigator for the city’s roughly 500 marijuana businesses. The city created the position earlier this year. The excise agency said Peña’s role will be to “help the industry navigate the rules, to fortify and expand trust and transparency between the cannabis industry and Denver’s marijuana regulatory agencies and serve as a point of contact between marijuana businesses and the city of Denver.” Jann Parish Joey Peña Industry Players | New Hires & Promotions