Marijuana Business Magazine November-December 2019

Marijuana Business Magazine | Month 2019 172 Industry Players | New Hires & Promotions operations officer to CEO, allowing TGS co-founders Kyle Speidell and Eric Speidell to step into the roles of co-president and co-chairman of the board of directors. Also, sales and strategy leader Brad Speidell has moved from chief dispensing officer to chief sales officer, creating a need for the stra- tegic addition of Nicholas Tedesco , vice president of retail operations. Tedesco will support Brad Speidell with sales and operations strategies.  Shryne Group Names Executive Chairman Shryne Group, a vertically integrated cannabis company in California, appointed Jon Avidor as executive chairman. He was previously chairman of the board. In this new role, Avidor will identify and execute on the company’s strategic objectives and advise Shryne Group’s board of directors on corporate strategy. Avidor recently engineered and led the consolidation transaction that resulted in the formation of Shryne Group.  Prior to joining Shryne, Avidor founded Avidor Law and the legal blog Startup.Law. Both merged into Masur Griffitts in 2019 to formMasur Griffitts Avidor. As an attorney, Avidor represented clients in high-profile M&A transactions in the pharmaceutical, consumer and technology sectors, including sales of companies to Bayer, LinkedIn, PayPal and Intel. He also co-foundedWorld Trade Ventures, an early-stage VC fund in New York, and previously practiced law at Sullivan & Cromwell in New York and Goodwin in Silicon Valley. Canadian Chamber of Commerce Taps MJ Exec The Canadian Chamber of Commerce has elected Trevor Fencott , the CEO of Alberta-based cannabis company Fire & Flower Holdings, to its board of directors. Founded in 1925, the Chamber recently formed a National Cannabis Working Group to provide balanced policy recommendations supporting Canada’s emerging cannabis sector. New Hire, New Promotion at Golden Leaf Golden Leaf Holdings, a British Columbia business with U.S. opera- tions in Oregon and Nevada, added two new members to its executive management team with the hiring of Stan Grissinger as president and the promotion of Erin Hills to senior vice president-operations. Both Grissinger and Hills will report directly to CEO Jeffrey Yapp. Grissinger joined Golden Leaf after nearly two decades at Nike, where he was a global sales, international business development and product creation executive. Hills joined Golden Leaf subsidiary Chalice Farms as vice president of operations in 2015. Former Steep Hill Exec Joins New Frontier as Science Czar Cannabis data company New Frontier Data appointed Reggie Gaudino as chief science adviser. Gaudino pre- viously played a role in building out the cannabis genetics and research division at Steep Hill, a cannabis and science technology company. He has also been a patent agent with Sequenom, a genetics-testing com- pany, and founded and led Gaudino & Associates, an intellectual property contract services firm. Longtime Leader of BioTrackTHC Departs Patrick Vo exited his job as CEO of BiotrackTHC, a Florida-based seed- to-sale firm, after resigning from the board of its parent company, Helix TCS. Vo was an executive with the company for seven years, most recently serving as CEO and president. Colorado-based Helix TCS acquired BioTrackTHC in June 2018. According to an 8-K filing from Helix TCS, Vo’s resignation on Sept. 12 “was not the result of a disagreement with the company on any matter relating to the company’s operations, policies or practices.” Helix TCS has appointed to its board Steve Janjic , who was the founder and CEO of Green Tree Industries, the parent company of Amercanex, a Denver- based electronic exchange and tax revenue-tracking software company. Brand Change Leads to New Hires Nanogen, a cannabis technology company providing customized nano-emulsions for infused products, is rebranding under a new name, Vertosa. The move has prompted five hires: Crystal Chen, production manager: Chen most recently was a cosmetics formulation chemist for natural cosmetics company 100% Pure.  Matthew Hawley, head of finance: Hawley was previously vice president of finance for Springshot, a cloud-based software company. Matthew Hawley Courtesy Photo