Cannabis Movers & Shakers: Leafly, Origin Therapeutics, ECGI Holdings, 22nd Century Group

Leafly Hires Rebecca Warner As VP Of Sales

The cannabis information platform Leafly Holdings, Inc. said Wednesday that it has hired Rebecca Warner to serve as senior vice president of sales.

In her new role, Warner will oversee the ongoing value creation for brands and retailers that want to reach shoppers on the Leafly platform.

The addition of Warner to the executive team follows several key leadership hires since announcing the company's intent to combine with Merida Merger Corp. I MCMJ earlier this year, including appointments of Suresh Krishnaswamynd and Kimberly Boler, to name a few.

Rebecca has over 14 years experience designing and executing sales growth strategies at industry-leading online marketplaces. Most recently, she served as the director of Rental Sales at Zillow Gr Z, where she oversaw significant market share growth even through the pandemic. Prior to that, she held director-level roles at Domain, a leading real estate marketplace in Australia.

"Our vision for Leafly centers on continually reinforcing our role as the marketplace of choice for the cannabis community," Leafly CEO Yoko Miyashita said. "Rebecca's experience driving growth at online marketplaces will be critical as we work to unlock Leafly's full potential to serve our customers and monetize our platform at a greater scale as a public company."

Origin Therapeutics Announces Leadership Team

Origin Therapeutics Holdings Inc., an investment issuer focused on making equity investments in the psychedelics sector, recently announced its leadership team.

Created to provide retail investors with the opportunity to participate in the significant growth potential that private companies in the sector have before they would typically go public, the Vancouver-based company hired the following experts:

• Alexander Somjen, who will serve as CEO, brings extensive experience as an officer and director of publicly listed and privately held companies across a broad range of sectors, including technology, healthcare and cannabis.
• Kelvin Lee, who agreed to oversee Origin's finance department, has more than 15 years of extensive financial management experience with publicly traded companies. He is formerly CFO of Freeman Gold Corp.FMAN FMANF. Prior to that, he had held senior roles from corporate controller, VP of finance and administration to chief financial officer for a TSXV listed gold producer with $400 million in revenue over nine years.
• Brianna Davies, JD, a corporate securities lawyer with over 14 years experience working as legal counsel, corporate secretary and chief compliance officer to various privately held and publicly traded companies, primarily focused in the resource and technology sectors, will serve as an independent director.
• Michael Young, a founding partner of an investment company Cottingham Capital, agreed to serve as the company's chairperson, advisor and investment committee member.
• Kyle Gould, a co-founder of Hyperion Capital Inc., a boutique advisory firm specializing in the healthcare and technology sectors, agreed to serve as advisor and investment committee member. Prior to founding Hyperion Capital Inc., Gould was a director with GMP Securities L.P.'s cannabis practice where he aided in raising and advising over $10 billion worth of corporate mandates across more than 100 transactions.
• Jaiveer Singh, who agreed to the role of advisor and investment committee member, is the CEO of Mint Pharmaceuticals Inc. and an active early-stage investor. He was the chairman of Truverra Inc. until it was acquired by The Supreme Cannabis Company, Inc. FIRE SPRWF in 2019 and is a co-founder of Los Angeles-based hedge fund Medina Singh Partners, LLC.
• Alfred Wong, the company's vice president of investments, is a venture capitalist and entrepreneur with experience in technology, cannabis, pharmaceuticals and consumer goods. Currently, is the managing director at a boutique management consulting firm.
• Jonathan S. Goldman, who brings over 25 years of experience in business, commercial real estate and infrastructure development, will assume the role of advisor.

"The team's strong foundation of experience will enable us to drive the growth of our portfolio companies and support their success with mentorship, connections, and advisory," Somjen said. "We are committed to judicious review and analysis of opportunities to secure the right investments for a solid overall portfolio in the exciting and novel psychedelic field."

ECGI Holdings Bolsters Management Team With CFO Danny Wong

ECGI Holdings, Inc. ECGI, a Los Angeles-based company that plans to operate as Elite Cannabis Group, announced recently that it has boosted its management team via the retention of Danny Wong as chief financial officer.

Wong, a veteran of the financial services and consulting industries with substantial experience interfacing with C-suite executives at Fortune 500 companies, opted to oversee all aspects of the company's financial management as it continues its transition into the North American cannabis marketplace.

"Our plans call for strong growth, and to execute upon our plans, it is important to continue growing our executive ranks," the company's CEO William Chung, said. "Danny has the exact type of experience we require to take our operation to the next level. We welcome him to the ECGI team."

22nd Century Group Announces New CFO

Plant-based biotech company 22nd Century Group, Inc. XXII announced last week that it has tapped Richard Fitzgerald as chief financial officer.

Fitzgerald, who replaces John Franzino, will be responsible for further developing the company's business processes and leading the company's financial planning and analysis, operational finance, human resources and information technology functions as the new chief administrative officer.

"This is a pivotal time for 22nd Century as we build out our leadership team, particularly with the pending MRTP authorization and international launch of our VLN® product," said James A. Mish, the company's CEO. "Rich brings a diverse background, including extensive experience in IP and technology licensing in the life science industry, which we believe is timely as we execute on our key launch programs in tobacco, hemp/cannabis, and hops."

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