Marijuana Business Magazine January 2019

January 2019 | mjbizdaily.com 43 Jeanette VanderMarel Photo by Cole Burston BACKSTORIES VanderMarel co-founded Canadian licensed producer The Green Organic Dutchman (TGOD) in 2013, in part to facil- itate clinical trials involving medical cannabis and epilepsy. Her daughter died in 2003 after battling Dravet syndrome, an epilepsy disorder that begins in infancy. After leaving TGOD in mid-2018 and briefly flirting with retirement, VanderMarel co-founded Good & Green—now a licensed producer in On- tario—with Daniel Goldberg. In 2001, Gordon founded the nonprofit group Rethink Breast Cancer, where she spent more than a decade building a national organization recognized for changing the face of breast cancer awareness. Her eyes opened to the medical can- nabis industry after she learned a family member diagnosed with Stage 4 ovarian cancer used medical cannabis. Gordon took a job in 2013 as chief marketing officer at a licensed producer. Next, she joined the company now called 48North, where she became CEO. WHY TOWATCH In November 2018, Good & Green and 48North announced a plan to merge under the corporate banner 48North. Gordon and VanderMarel are co-CEOs. It is the only licensed producer in Canada run by two women. VanderMarel and Gordon look to do something entirely different from their competitors: run a company focused on profitability and female markets, which they say aren’t really being addressed. Theirs is a different approach in a cannabis industry dominated by men and often insolvent companies. 48North is in the licensing process for what could be the largest outdoor cannabis farm in Canada, with the aim to launch in June. Jeanette VanderMarel and Alison Gordon Cultivation & Hemp Co-CEOs, 48North | Toronto, Ontario