The Cannabist Company Announces Leadership Transition - Seite 2

“This decision to retire was not made lightly. Having been the longest serving CEO in the history of the industry, I am grateful to my team and our employees for their years of dedication, professionalism, and tenacity. As the first employee, I have seen this company reach new heights and overcome tremendous challenges over the past 12 years. I am proud of the company we’ve built and am confident in the skilled leadership that will now steer the ship. Although my next endeavor is focused on the incredibly important, and deeply personal, task of groundbreaking research for ultrarare pediatric diseases via a gene therapy platform I helped to develop, I am pleased to remain on as a member of the Board of Directors and will continue to support the Company as it enters this next chapter,” said Nicholas Vita, Co-Founder.

“Founder, strategist, tactician, Nick poured his heart and soul into the company. His strategic guidance over the past 12 years paved the way for the exciting chapters ahead under David and Jesse’s leadership,” said James A.C. Kennedy, member of the Board of Directors at the Company.

David Hart joined The Cannabist Company in 2016 and became Chief Operating Officer in 2018. Prior to joining The Cannabist Company, David served as Chief Operating Officer of Abyrx, a venture capital-backed medical device company that developed, manufactured, and commercialized a portfolio of intraoperative cross specialty hemostats. Prior to his time at Abyrx, David was Chief Financial Officer and Chief Investment Officer at Alpine Capital, a family investment office for the Ranawat Orthopedic Group at the Hospital for Special Surgery, where he was responsible for capital allocations, direct private investments, and all healthcare investments. David was also previously the Partner and Head of Healthcare Equity Investments at Apelles Investment Management. David started his career in the financial services industry in the Mergers and Acquisitions groups at Thomas Weisel Partners and Duff & Phelps. David has an MBA from Columbia University and is a graduate of Duke University.

Jesse Channon joined The Cannabist Company in December 2019 as Chief Growth Officer. Jesse is an accomplished and award-winning leader with a background in developing transformative technologies and digital marketing platforms, having advised and worked with some of the largest brands and agencies in the world. A member of the founding team at PageLever, a Y Combinator-backed company, Jesse oversaw all revenue and partnerships, working with companies such as YouTube, Microsoft, Intel and Toyota to build one of the first real-time applications on Facebook’s API and earning certification in the first wave of Preferred Marketing Developers. In 2013, PageLever sold to Unified, a New York City-based Ad Tech company, where Jesse spent six years on the senior management team. After Unified, Jesse served as Chief Revenue Officer for Social Native, a custom content marketplace. Jesse also serves on the Entrepreneurship Advisory Board for the Harbert School of Business at his alma mater Auburn University.