Marijuana Business Magazine January 2020

Marijuana Business Magazine | January 2020 100 Industry Players | New Hires & Promotions A look at some recent hiring moves in the marijuana industry  Canopy Growth Appoints New Board Chair Ontario, Canada- based Canopy Growth, one of the biggest cannabis companies in the world, appointed David Klein as chair of its board of directors. Klein currently serves as executive vice president and chief financial officer of alcohol giant Constellation Brands. He specializes in corporate strategy, all aspects of finance and accounting, investor relations, mergers and acquisitions as well as information technology. He has served as a director on Canopy Growth’s board since 2018. John Bell stepped down from his post as interim chair but will remain on the board as a director. Vireo Hires CFO Minnesota-based multistate marijuana company Vireo Health International tapped Shaun Nugent as its new CFO. Nugent previously served as CEO and CFO of several private and public companies, including Life Time Fitness, AllOver Media, Champps Entertainment and Sun Country Airlines. Vireo’s previous CFO, Amber Shimpa , is assuming a new role: chief administrative officer. Shimpa will continue to serve on Vireo’s board of directors and as a member of the nominating and governance committee. New CFO for MJardin The MJardin Group, a multistate cultivation company headquartered in Denver, hired Edward Jonasson as CFO. Jonasson was previously vice president of finance and group cor- porate controller at The Stars Group and also held senior finance positions By Omar Sacirbey A t a time when the cannabis industry is going through an unprecedented period of layoffs, hiring a top human resources executive seems astute. Golden Leaf Holdings, a Canadian cannabis company with operations in Nevada and Oregon that has seen some of its C-suiters come and go in the past year, made such a move when it hired 30-year human resources veteran Jane Sullivan . She’s held execu- tive posts at Coach, Sunglass Hut, Apple and, most recently, Microsoft, where she served as senior director of global human resources in the stores division and was responsible for 2,500 employees and the design and execution of the human resources agenda. It was at Microsoft that Sullivan worked with Jeffery Yapp, who, in September 2019, transitioned from Golden Leaf’s chief oper- ating officer to CEO. Sullivan and Yapp were with Microsoft at a time when the tech titan was expanding globally and their duties took them to Europe, China and Australia. So, when Yapp became the top executive at Golden Leaf, he called Sullivan. “When you did the work that we were doing, you’re in crazy time zones, you’re tired, you build trust with people. And one thing he said was, if he was going to do this, he really wanted to have a trusted people partner right next to him,” Sullivan told Marijuana Business Magazine. After briefly consulting for Golden Leaf, Sullivan went all-in. Despite her extensive HR experience, Sullivan acknowledged unexpected adjustments. “What I’m learning is that in this industry some of our resources are limited (because cannabis is federally prohibited). An example might be payroll and HRA systems that are willing to work in the industry; partners to help support our stock plan administration and enhanced benefits programs. Companies that provide these services in other indus- tries are not necessarily available in this industry. That’s been the steepest learning curve.” Nevertheless, Sullivan has an ambitious HR agenda to make Golden Leaf an employer of choice. That agenda focuses on three areas: • Recruiting and retaining talent more intelligently. • Better defining company culture so that employees have more understanding of how their specific role fits with the company mission. • Redesigning compensation programs. Golden Leaf Hire Has Window on HR Challenges Jane Sullivan David Klein Courtesy Photo

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