MJBiz - September/October 2024 - 52

INDUSTRY PLAYERS New Hires & Promotions
Longtime Ayr Exec
Sandelman Resigns
Ayr Wellness, a marijuana
multistate operator,
announced the resignation
of one of the longestserving
executives in
the cannabis industry,
Jonathan Sandelman,
who is stepping down from the posts of director
and executive chair.
Sandelman became Ayr's CEO in 2017, joining
Jonathan Sandelman
what was then a Massachusetts-based business
after a 30-year Wall Street career. For some
cannabis industry observers, the move epitomized
what was seen as big money's takeover of
marijuana.
Sandelman, who once described himself to
MJBizDaily as a mathematician at his core,
started his 30-year financial career managing
derivatives and arbitrage at Salomon Brothers,
followed by Bank of America Securities, where
he served as president. He later founded and led
his own multibillion-dollar asset-management
firm, Sandelman Partners, and continued to run
a privately held family office, Mercer Park, while
he ran Ayr.
Today, Ayr, now headquartered in Miami, has
operations in seven states, including Arizona,
Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey and
Pennsylvania.
Ayr announced Sandelman's departure on
July 31, adding that he resigned to pursue other
opportunities. The company's directors selected
Louis Karger as the new board chair, according
to a news release.
Karger founded Massachusetts-based Sira Naturals,
a vertically integrated cannabis company,
in 2013. Sira was awarded the first recreational
cultivation license in Massachusetts in 2018.
In 2019, Ayr acquired Sira along with several
other marijuana businesses in different states.
Karger is also founder and manager of Panther
Residential Investments and Panther Residential
Management, firms focused on the acquisition,
development, management and sale of multifamily
apartment properties in the southeast
United States.
He also is co-founder of Compass Realty Associates,
a private equity real estate firm in New
England, and Compass Realty Partners, a real
estate investment fund.
Marijuana Regulatory Group
Elects New Board
The Cannabis Regulators Association (CANNRA),
a nonpartisan, nonprofit association of
government agencies involved in marijuana
regulation in more than 45 states and
U.S. territories, Canada and the Netherlands,
elected its 2024-25 executive board.
The new board, comprised of regulators from
states with varied cannabis and cannabinoid
policies, includes:
* President: Dominique
Mendiola, senior director,
Marijuana Enforcement
Division, Colorado
Department of Revenue.
* Treasurer: Adria Berry,
executive director,
Oklahoma Medical
Marijuana Authority.
Dominique
Mendiola
* Board member: Kirsten Davis-Franklin,
deputy cannabis regulation oversight
officer of legislation and policy, Illinois
Department of Financial and Professional
Regulation.
* Board member: Nicole Elliott, director,
California Department of Cannabis Control.
* Board member: Brian Hanna, executive
director, Michigan Cannabis Regulatory
Agency.
* Board member: Amy Moore, director,
Division of Cannabis Regulation, Missouri
Department of Health and Senior Services.
* Board member: Andrew Turnage,
executive director, Georgia Access to
Medical Cannabis Commission.
* Past President: Will Tilburg, director,
Maryland Cannabis Administration.
The organization's board members must
be current government regulators from a
CANNRA-member jurisdiction. They serve a
one-year term and are elected by a designated
voting member from each member state or
jurisdiction.
4Front Co-founder Krane
Promoted to Board Chair
Arizona-based 4Front Ventures, a vertically
integrated, marijuana multistate operator,
promoted current director Kris Krane to board
chair. Krane replaces Robert Hunt, who is
leaving the board, according to a news release.
52 September-October 2024 | MJBizMagazine
MJBiz - September/October 2024

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