MJBizMag January 2023 - 44

INDUSTRY PLAYERS New Hires & Promotions by Omar Sacirbey
Pioneering Cannabis Banking Business Gets New CFO
SHF Holdings, formerly Safe Harbor Financial, appointed James
Dennedy as chief financial officer, effective Oct. 24.
Dennedy most recently served as president, chief operating officer
and a board member for Urban-Gro, an engineering design and
services company focused on the commercial horticulture market.
At Urban-Gro, Dennedy assisted from the board level with a
$62 million capital raise and listing on the Nasdaq stock exchange.
Before Urban-Gro, he was CFO of Interurban Capital Group;
president, CEO and director of hospitality software company Agilysis;
and chief investment officer of Arcadia Capital Advisors.
In his new role, Dennedy is tasked with helping SHF scale its offerings
to provide regulated U.S. cannabis companies with access to
compliant financing and banking solutions.
Beals Steps Down as CEO
of Weedmaps Parent
WM Technology CEO Chris
Beals " decided to step down " and
left the Irvine, California-based
company and leave its board of
directors.
The cannabis advertising and
technology firm is the parent
company of Weedmaps.
Doug Francis, a co-founder,
executive chair and former CEO
of the company, will lead WM
Technology during its search for a
new CEO.
Pennsylvania MMJ Agency
Gets New Director
Laura Mentch, a pharmacist with
experience in the medical marijuana
industry, has been chosen to be
the new director of Pennsylvania's
MMJ regulatory agency.
According to local news reports,
Mentch served as a pharmacist
since 2019 at two of the state's
MMJ companies, multistate
operators Ayr Wellness and
Nature's Medicines.
The licensed pharmacist replaces
interim director Peter Blank as
head of the Office of Medical
Marijuana, part of the Pennsylvania
Department of Health.
44 January 2023 | MJBizMagazine
New MMJ Leader
Appointed in Florida
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis
appointed Christopher Phillip
Kimball as director of the state's
Office of Medical Marijuana Use,
according to local news reports.
Kimball succeeds Chris Ferguson,
who led the state's medical cannabis
program for three years.
A Navy veteran, Kimball was in
the Judge Advocate General (JAG)
Corps for nearly 14 years. According
to News Service of Florida, he
served as " health care policy
adviser " and also has worked in the
state attorney general's office.
He was recently admitted to The
Florida Bar and doesn't appear to
have cannabis-specific experience.
Ascend Wellness Selects
New Board Members
Multistate marijuana operator
Ascend Wellness Holdings
appointed two new directors to its
five-person board:
Dan Neville, chief financial
officer and interim co-CEO, who
took over for former CEO Abner
Kurtin in September.
Joshua Gold, who is
independent of Ascend, and who
will serve as chair of the audit
committee and member of the
compensation and corporate
governance committee.
Emily Paxhia, the only woman
on the board and a co-founder
and managing partner of cannabis
hedge fund Poseidon Investment
Management, resigned as director.
California's Lowell Farms
Bolsters Board
Lowell Farms, a Salinas, Californiabased
cultivation company,
appointed Summer Frein and Ann
Lawrence to its board of directors.
Frein currently serves as the chief
marketing officer at Turning Point
Brands, a manufacturer, marketer
and distributor of consumer
products.
Before joining Turning Point, she
held a variety of senior leadership
roles across sales, marketing,
strategy and business development
over 15 years at Cronos Group and
Altria Group.
Lawrence is the co-founder
and CEO of a Southern California
collection of cannabis businesses
including a distribution company
and two retailers, The Rose
Collective and The Farmacy
Westwood, both of which are
Lowell Farms customers.
MJBizMag January 2023

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