- George Scorsis, WeedMD’s Executive Chairman named interim CEO, taking additional role to lead WeedMD’s accelerated profitability phase in 2021
- WeedMD’s Chief Legal Officer Jason Alexander is appointed to Board Director
TORONTO, Jan. 04, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WeedMD Inc. (TSX-V:WMD) (OTCQX:WDDMF) (FSE:4WE) (“WeedMD” or the “Company”), a federally-licensed producer and distributor of medical-grade cannabis, announced today that its board of directors (the “Board”) has appointed executive chairman, George Scorsis, as interim Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. This appointment follows Angelo Tsebelis’s decision to step down from his CEO and director roles, with mutual agreement from the Board, following the successful year-long integration of WeedMD and Starseed Holdings Inc. (“Starseed”). Mr. Tsebelis has agreed to take an advisory role to help the Company through this period of transition.
The Company is now leading a comprehensive search process to select a permanent CEO. Concurrently, WeedMD announced today that Jason Alexander, the Company’s Chief Legal Officer, has been appointed as a director and has joined the Board pursuant to the terms of the Company’s nomination rights and voting agreement dated December 20, 2019.
“On behalf of the Board, we thank Angelo for his leadership, focus and guidance during a complex period as we combined two companies and navigated a dynamic landscape that resulted from the worldwide pandemic last year,” said George Scorsis, Executive Chairman and Interim CEO of WeedMD. “Angelo was integral in merging our businesses, optimizing our operations, commercializing our sales and distribution initiatives and bringing a renewed focus on brand awareness. During his tenure, WeedMD achieved a two-fold sales increase in the first nine months of 2020, compared to the full year 2019. We appreciate his contributions to our growth, his counsel during our transition and we wish him well on his future endeavours.”
Mr. Scorsis added, “I am also pleased to welcome Jason Alexander as the newest director to our Board. Jason was instrumental in working alongside Angelo and the leadership team to fully-integrate the Company into a position of strength over the past year. Moving forward, WeedMD is now anchored in the best cultivation, commercial and product frameworks in Canada as we work to accelerate our profitability goals. Together we are kicking off 2021 with a focused approach on increasing market share and commercial growth of our Color Cannabis and Saturday brands, while expanding our medical footprint through our Starseed portfolio. This includes an aggressive plan to transition WeedMD into a consumer-facing model of excellence. Ultimately becoming hyper-focused on driving meaningful results, while optimizing the organization for future success to deliver shareholder value.”
More about Mr. Alexander and Mr. Scorsis
Mr. Alexander, as Chief Legal Officer, has been part of the organization since 2018 and was instrumental in the acquisition by WeedMD and Starseed. He oversees all areas of corporate performance including compliance, quality assurance, risk, legal and corporate affairs and served as Corporate Secretary of the Company over the past two years. With over 15 years of senior corporate experience navigating complex transactions and commercial matters, Mr. Alexander was previously Chief Legal Officer of Starseed, legal counsel for Shoppers Drug Mart and a corporate lawyer at Miller Thomson LLP.
Mr. Scorsis, with nearly 20 years of commercial experience in the consumer packaged goods (CPG), beverage and the cannabis industries, has been a vital member of the Board since 2019 and is widely recognized for building high-performing teams. As former CEO and director of Liberty Health Sciences, Mr. Scorsis led that company’s expansion into the U.S.-medical cannabis market. He also served as the president of one of Canada’s first public cannabis companies, Mettrum Health Corp., where he was instrumental in a successful exit valued at approximately $430 million. Prior to joining the cannabis industry, Mr. Scorsis was General Manager of Red Bull Canada where he helped restructure that company geographically, increasing business revenues by $150 million annually.
Information about upcoming corporate events can be found here. Access WeedMD’s latest investor deck here.
About WeedMD Inc.
WeedMD Inc. is the publicly-traded parent company of WeedMD RX Inc. and Starseed Medicinal Inc., licence holders producing and distributing cannabis products for both the medical and adult-use markets. The Company owns and operates a 158-acre state-of-the-art greenhouse, outdoor and processing facility located in Strathroy, ON as well as a fully-licensed 26,000 sq. ft. Aylmer, ON processing facility, specializing in cannabis extraction. With the addition of Starseed, a medical-centric operator based in Bowmanville, ON, WeedMD has expanded its multi-channeled distribution strategy. Starseed’s industry-first, exclusive partnership with LiUNA, the largest construction union in Canada, along with employers and union groups complements WeedMD’s direct sales to medical patients. The Company maintains strategic relationships in the seniors’ market and supply agreements with Shoppers Drug Mart as well, as six provincial distribution agencies where adult-use brands Color Cannabis and Saturday are sold.
Follow WeedMD, Color Cannabis, Saturday Cannabis & Starseed:
LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/company/weedmd
Twitter: https://twitter.com/WeedMD
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/weedmd/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/callitcolor/
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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/starseedca/
For further information, please contact:
For Investor Enquiries:
Valter Pinto
Managing Director
KCSA Strategic Communications
1-212-896-1254
weedmd@kcsa.com
For Media Enquiries:
Marianella delaBarrera
VP, Communications & Corporate Affairs
416-897-6644
marianella@weedmd.com
Forward Looking Information This press release contains “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation which are based upon WeedMD’s current internal expectations, estimates, projections, assumptions and beliefs and views of future events. Forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “expect”, “likely”, “may”, “will”, “should”, “intend”, “anticipate”, “potential”, “proposed”, “estimate” and other similar words, including negative and grammatical variations thereof, or statements that certain events or conditions “may”, “would” or “will” happen, or by discussions of strategy.
The forward-looking information in this news release is based upon the expectations, estimates, projections, assumptions and views of future events which management believes to be reasonable in the circumstances. Forward-looking information includes estimates, plans, expectations, opinions, forecasts, projections, targets, guidance or other statements that are not statements of fact. Forward-looking information in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to internal expectations, expectations with respect to actual production volumes, expectations for future growing capacity and the completion of any capital project or expansions. Forward-looking information necessarily involve known and unknown risks, including, without limitation, risks associated with general economic conditions; adverse industry events; loss of markets; future legislative and regulatory developments; inability to access sufficient capital from internal and external sources, and/or inability to access sufficient capital on favourable terms; the cannabis industry in Canada generally; the ability of WeedMD to implement its business strategies; the COVID-19 pandemic; competition; crop failure; and other risks.
Any forward-looking information speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and, except as required by law, WeedMD does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for WeedMD to predict all such factors. When considering this forward-looking information, readers should keep in mind the risk factors and other cautionary statements in WeedMD’s disclosure documents filed with the applicable Canadian securities regulatory authorities on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The risk factors and other factors noted in the disclosure documents could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those described in any forward-looking information.
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