Marijuana Business Magazine May-June 2020

Marijuana Business Magazine | May-June 2020 110 Tom Lynch , a partner and senior managing director at SCP, takes over as interim CEO, replacing previous interim CEO Ryan Lissack . Lynch previously served as chair and CEO of Frederick’s of Hollywood Group, a publicly traded specialty retailer, and was also the interim CEO of David’s Bridal. Lissack took the reins of MedMen on an interim basis after co-founder Adam Bierman resigned as CEO on Feb. 1. In addition, Tim Bossidy , director at SCP, was appointed MedMen’s interim COO. GTI President Resigns Armen Yemenidjian  resigned as president of multistate cannabis operator Green Thumb Industries to spend more time with his family. Yemenidjian will continue to work with Chicago-based GTI for the next six months to ensure a smooth transition and focus primarily on the company’s businesses in California and Nevada. Yemenidjian joined GTI in November 2018 after it paid $290 million in stock and cash for Integral Associates, a Nevada company he co-founded. Acreage HR Exec Resigns Amid Furloughs New York-based multistate operator Acreage Holdings announced that Steve Hardardt , executive vice president and chief people officer, resigned. Hardardt’s resignation was announced by Acreage in a statement that also revealed the company furloughed 122 employees. Hardardt joined Acreage last August after running his own executive coaching firm and running human resources for TWTelecom. Dixie Pioneer Finds Way to Wana A week after Wana Brands entered the Canadian market, the Colorado- based marijuana-infused edibles maker announced it had hired indus- try veteran Joe Hodas to oversee the company’s growing marketing efforts. In his new position as chief marketing officer for the company, Hodas will oversee Wana’s marketing and adver- tising initiatives, including planning, development and execution. Early in his cannabis career, Hodas was part of the team that built Dixie Elixirs, a Denver-based pioneer in the marijuana-infused products industry. Most recently, Hodas was CEO at Denver-based Gofire, a high-tech marijuana inhaler company.  Harborside HR Hire Harborside, a California-focused, vertically integrated cannabis enterprise, appointed Marian Robinson as vice president of human resources. Before joining Harborside, Robinson was senior director of human resources at San Jose, California-based Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, the largest PP affiliate in the country. She also held senior management positions with companies including Orchard Supply Hardware and Target. Quebec Cannabis Firm Nabs Tech and Security Experts Neptune Wellness Solutions, a multinational cannabis company headquartered in Laval, Quebec, appointed Joseph Buaron and Michael A . de Geus to its board of directors. Buaron is the co-founder and chief technology officer of goPeer, a Canadian peer-to-peer lender. He also serves as chief strategy officer of Loti Wellness, a Canadian consumer brand. He has held senior technology and system administrator positions at Unilever, Schmidt’s Naturals and other companies. De Geus is a highly accomplished security executive with domestic and international cyber investigative and physical security experience. He is the founder and chief executive officer of Leatherback Gear, a producer of bulletproof backpacks. He also served as a special agent in federal law enforcement with the Department of Homeland Security and has served on various assignments since 2008. Previously, he served as the director of sales at Koro Sun Report in the Fiji Islands and as a consultant for MD Consulting. Salesforce Vet Joins Delivery Software Firm Indianapolis-based Grow Cart, a soft- ware-as-a-service platform for dis- pensaries to start their own cannabis e-commerce and delivery services, appointed Ashley Damron as chief operating officer. Damron joins Grow Cart from global software enterprise firm Salesforce. Trade Group Leader Steps Down Marijuana industry veteran Neal Levine announced his resignation as CEO of the Cannabis Trade Federation, a national coalition of cannabis-related businesses, on March 12. Before being tapped as CEO of Washington DC-based CTF in June 2018, Levine co-founded the New Federalism Fund. CTF was created in April 2018, when Levine’s group and the independent American Trade Association of Cannabis and Hemp agreed to collaborate to advance pro-cannabis policies at the federal level. In a statement, Levine said his initial plan was to serve as CEO of CTF for two years. It was “never my intent to run it long term,” he said. He added that, with “the election heating up” and federal legislative movement IndustryPlayers | New Hires & Promotions