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Management & Directors

Management Directors

Ellen Deutsch, Chief Executive Officer

Ellen Deutsch brings deep operational, marketing, and financial experience and expertise in the cannabis and CPG industries, having most recently served as Senior Vice President of Market Development and Shared Services at Acreage Holdings (OTC: ACRHF), a vertically integrated, multi-state operator of cannabis cultivation and retailing facilities in the U.S. Before joining Acreage, Deutsch served as Executive Vice President/Chief Operating Officer at Stem Holdings, Inc (OTC: STMH), a vertically integrated cannabis branded products and technology company, following two decades in the C-suite of Hain Celestial (Nasdaq: Hain), predominantly as its Senior Vice President/Chief Growth Officer among other leadership roles.

Amit Pandey, Chief Financial Officer

Amit Pandey has lengthy financial background in private and public markets spanning cannabis, consumer packaged goods (CPG), and fintech. He previously served as Executive Vice President and Interim Chief Financial Officer of Finance at Clever Leaves International, Inc (NASDAQ: CLVR), a global medical cannabis company with one of the world's largest cultivation and extraction capacities, which he joined in its early stages and led to the public listing on NASDAQ. Prior to Clever Leaves International, Pandey served as the Chief Financial Officer of PayCommerce, LLC, a private-equity-backed B2B global cross-border platform fintech SAAS firm.

Kimble Cannon, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary

Karen Torres, Chief Supply Chain Officer

Mel Elias, Director

Mel Elias is an active investor, entrepreneur and developer in Los Angeles has past and present board experience in CPG and consumer retail businesses both in the US and internationally. He was President and CEO of The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf for 6 years, until it was sold in 2013.

Cameron Smith, Director

Cameron Smith currently operates a private angel investment and advisory fund that focuses on health food. Prior to his investment and advisory business, Mr. Smith was General Counsel of The Island ENC, Inc., President of Quantlab Financial and worked at the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission.

Michael Serruya, Executive Chairman of The Board

Michael Serruya is somewhat of a perennial entrepreneur, along with his brothers Michael co-founded Yogen Fruz 30 years ago. Over the years, through organic growth and multiple acquisitions, Michael and his brothers have built a Franchising operation which today spans over 5100 locations, and operates in 27 countries around the world. Michael and his brothers have diversified over the years to build Serruya Private Equity (SPE), into an enterprise which has annual system-wide sales of over $1.5 billion. Michael’s role has evolved into both an investor and operator of various diverse business endeavors.

David Hsu, Director

David Hsu is an expert in financial and operational turnarounds. Most recently he served as Chief Operating Officer of cannabis company Cronos Group, where he was responsible for international expansion, construction, cultivation and manufacturing. Prior to joining Cronos Group, Hsu spent more than a decade consulting with Deloitte and CRG Partners, a premier turnaround consulting firm, where he operated and managed distressed companies with revenues of more than $500 million.

Ed Record, Director

Ed Record has deep retail experience, overseeing financial and operational performance for several large national retailers. He previously served as the Chief Financial Officer for Hudson's Bay Company. Before joining HBC, Record was Chief Financial Officer for J.C. Penney. Prior to J.C. Penney, Record held leadership positions at Stage Stores, Kohl’s and Belk.

Committee Membership