MJBizMag February 2022 - 52

INDUSTRY PLAYERS New Hires & Promotions by Omar Sacirbey
Verano Nabs CFO from Kraft Heinz
Brett Summerer left his posts as vice president, head of supply-chain finance and
chief financial officer of Kraft Heinz Co.'s U.S. operations to join cannabis multistate
operator Verano Holdings as its CFO.
Summerer began his career in the IT sector at Modern Engineering, where he
eventually became chief information officer and managed the firm's budget, vendor
contracts and operational integration for four acquisitions.
He also spent 10 years at General Motors in financial planning and analysis, serving
in controller and CFO positions in the U.S. and Asian markets. After leaving GM,
he served as the head of financial planning, analysis and supply-chain finance for
Corning as head of finance for their pharmaceutical arm.
Summerer takes over for Brian Ward, who will serve as an adviser during the transition before leaving
Verano. He will report to Verano founder and CEO George Archos and will be based at the company's
Chicago headquarters.
management, product development
and human resources posts at
Burberry, Vineyard Vines, Prada and
Ralph Lauren.
Tiffany McBride
Kerry Arnold
TPCO Adds Two to C-Suite
TPCO Holding Corp., a vertically
integrated California cannabis
company, appointed Tiffany
McBride as its managing director
of social equity ventures and Kerry
Arnold as chief people officer.
McBride most recently was the
chief operations officer at Docstur,
a document automation and artificial
intelligence company. Arnold
previously was chief people officer
at Canndescent, a California-based
cannabis brand.
Perfect Union Hires Retail Exec
Perfect Union, a Sacramentobased
cannabis company, hired
Meghan Fort as its new senior
vice president of retail. Fort most
recently served as vice president of
North American retail at Farrow &
Ball, a British paint and wallpaper
manufacturer. She also held store
52 February 2022 | MJBizMagazine
Coda Adds PharmaCann
Founder to Board
Coda Signature, a Denver-based
edibles maker, appointed the
founder and former CEO of
Chicago-based PharmaCann, Teddy
Scott, to its board of directors.
Scott is also a former CEO of
multistate operator Ethos Cannabis
in Philadelphia.
Scott currently is CEO of Bakhu
Holdings, a company in Long
Beach, California, that holds a
cell-replication technology license
to produce, manufacture and sell
cannabinoids in North and Central
America and the Caribbean. He is
also the founder and director of
SmartHealth Catalyzer, a Chicagoarea
biotechnology company.
Before founding PharmaCann in
2015, Scott was a patent attorney.
He is also an adviser to the University
of Chicago Innovation Fund.
MWG Holdings Bolsters Board
Sacramento-based MWG Holdings,
a cannabis-focused holding
company whose investments
include Perfect Union, appointed
Mansoor Zakaria, a former Silicon
Valley CEO and veteran investor, to
its board of directors.
Zakaria joined New Vernon
Wealth Management (formerly S.F.
Investment Advisors) in 2010, after
a career as an entrepreneur, Silicon
Valley CEO and private venture
investor. Earlier in his career, he led
a pioneering electronic brokerage
team at Charles Schwab. Subsequently,
he was a strategic adviser/
consultant to top management at
Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan.
CBD Brand
Hires First COO, CMO
Highline Wellness, a CBD brand
headquartered in New York City,
expanded its C-Suite by hiring its
first chief operating officer/president
and chief marketing officer.
The new COO/
president, Arin
Maercks, joined
Highline in
November 2021
from Xabis, a
Denver-based
cannabis
company. Before
Xabis, Maercks was the chief
commercial officer at Longeveron,
Arin
Maercks

MJBizMag February 2022

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