Cannabis Movers & Shakers: HEXO, Kaya Now, Greenlane, Stem Holdings

Kaya Now Welcomes Stormy Simon As Director Of Board

Kaya Now Inc., a media and technology holding company, focused on the cannabis industry, has appointed Stormy Simon to its board of directors.

Simon, who previously served as president of Overstock.com and CEO of High Times, is an e-commerce pioneer.

A long-time plant medicine supporter, she is passionate about the medicinal benefits and scientific value of cannabis and is an advocate for user rights.

Simon has been recognized as a customer champion by Gartner 1 to1 Media and was named a Power Player by the National Retail Federation for 2016's The List, People Shaping Retail's Future. She was awarded top innovator by Utah Women in Tech awards 2015.

"Kaya is building the combination of technical advertising solutions for a business community and trusted products and information for a passionate cannabis community, which I'm proud to be a part of High There and Canntinuum have done some heavy lifting to get to where they are, and I'm lucky they have invited me for the ride," Simon commented.

Stem Holdings Taps Two New Members To Its Board Of Directors

Stem Holdings, Inc. STMH STEM, a vertically integrated cannabis operator, appointed Daryl Simon and Rajiv Rai to its board of directors effective March 4, 2022.

Daryl Simon is an entrepreneur, philanthropist and lifelong advocate for the arts and ‎education who has built brands and led businesses in various capacities, ‎including business development, marketing and sales across international markets.‎

Prior to joining the board, Simon was an advisory board member at Stem and a director at the Hain Celestial Group, Inc.

Rajiv Rai is an executive with over 20 years of experience in business development, revenue generation, partnership development, strategic management services, business processes assessment, and advisory services.

He currently serves as the president of R3 Concepts Inc, special advisor to the chairman at Rogers Communications, member of the board of directors of CONSTANTINE Enterprises Inc., and co-founder of the board of directors for the ONEXONE Foundation.

Prior to this, Rai held the position of managing director for E.S. Rogers Enterprises, VP of Business Development at Keek, Inc., founder and VP of Fastvice, Inc., and Director of Development at CORE Feature Animation.

HEXO Elects Seven Directors On Heels Of Tilray Deal

HEXO Corp. HEXO recently elected seven directors at the annual general, and special meeting of shareholders held on March 8, 2022.

Directors are:

• Mark Attanasio
• Vincent Chiara
• Hélène F. Fortin
• Rose Marie Gage
• Rob Godfrey
• Peter James Montour
• Will Montour

The news comes on the heels of a strategic partnership with Tilray Brands, Inc. TLRY, which includes a new debt financing agreement. Under the new deal, Tilray Brands will acquire $211 million of senior secured convertible notes that HEXO initially issued to HT Investments MA LLC.

Greenlane Announces Leadership Changes

Greenlane Holdings, Inc. GNLN recently revealed that Adam Schoenfeld, the company's co-founder, and board member opted to step down as chief marketing officer, effective March 31.

The company said that it would not seek to fill the vacant role at this time.

In the meantime, Craig Snyder – an experienced leader with over 20 years of success in driving the growth and development of high tech and emerging technology organizations – agreed to serve as the company's new chief commercial officer.

Snyder has held senior leadership positions at PepsiCo, Inc. PEP and Citibank, with executive leadership experience in two successful startups to Nasdaq IPO success stories – Go2Net & Marchex – and significant experience with large-scale M&A integration and restructuring.

His day-to-day responsibilities will be focused on managing the commercial side of Greenlane's business, from developing the company's go-to-market strategies to bolstering its sales initiatives as well as on digitally transforming the company's consumer goods strategy.

Photo: Courtesy of David Gabrić on Unsplash