Marijuana Business Magazine September 2018

NEW HlRES & PROMOTlONS By Omar Sacirbey New CEO at Green Organic Dutchman It’s not the way Brian Athaide wanted to become CEO. Athaide’s predecessor at The Green Organic Dutchman, Robert Anderson, had named Athaide his successor a while back, and the two already had been preparing for a power transfer. But in July, health issues forced Anderson to step down sooner than expected from the Ontario, Canada-based marijuana cultivator. “While Rob had planned to step back from the CEO role as the company shifted from the fundraising stage into operations, due to health issues this plan was accelerated,” Athaide, who previously served as chief financial officer at The Green Organic Dutchman, wrote in an email to Mari- juana Business Magazine. “Ideally the transition would have happened more gradually with a methodical handover.” Before entering the cannabis sector, Athaide spent 25 years at Procter & Gamble, moving through progressively more senior positions across eight countries, culminating as the finance director and CFO of the company’s multi- billion-dollar consumer products business for the Russia, Ukraine and Central Asian markets. He followed that with a stint at Andrew Peller Limited, the largest publicly traded wine and craft alcohol producer in Canada, where he was CFO and executive vice president of human resources and information technology. Athaide believes his experience in the alcohol sector will be especially important in his new post. “There are a lot of similarities in cannabis to the bever- age alcohol or wine industry I came from. These indus- tries are heavily regulated and taxed, and in Canada the government controls the distribution,” Athaide wrote in the email. He added: “When I was at P&G, I spent 21 out of 25 years working outside Canada in eight countries and four continents. This experience is very relevant as we expand our (global) footprint.” What does Athaide see as potential hurdles for his company? “One of the biggest challenges we face is the speed of change in different markets and in regulations,” he wrote. “We have a clear game plan and are focused on A look at some recent hiring moves in the marijuana industry & Movers SHAKERS ( ) Brian Athaide 112 • Marijuana Business Magazine • September 2018