MJBizMag January 2021 - 70

IndustryPlayers | New Hires & Promotions
with a presence in 21 emerging
economies. He also is a former dean
of economics at Universidad de los
Andes (Bogotá) and a past visiting
professor at IE Business School in
Madrid and Georgetown University in
Washington DC.
Testing Lab Adds Four Execs
CannaSafe, an ISO-accredited
cannabis testing laboratory
headquartered in Van Nuys, California,
added four new senior management
executives.
Todd Geller was appointed vice
president of business development
with supervisory responsibilities in
the sales and marketing department.
Geller comes to CannaSafe from
LeafLogix, where he was the former
VP of sales responsible for expanding
into all states where cannabis is legal.
Before joining LeafLogix, Geller worked
as senior VP of sales and marketing at
CallSource.
Matthew McCormack is
CannaSafe's new chief financial officer.
Before CannaSafe, McCormack was
CFO at Merieux North America and CFO
at both Intelligentsia Coffee and Ornua
Foods North America. McCormack
also spent more than eight years at
Accenture, holding several financialmanagement
roles across multiple
business units.
Keith Wheatstone joins the
company as senior VP of mergers and
acquisitions, drawing upon his career
managing environmental testing labs
across the globe. For seven years
before joining CannaSafe, Wheatstone
served as president at various Eurofins
business units and as president and
CEO of Eurofins Environment Testing.
Wheatstone is also the current
president and owner of Building
Water Sampling Services, where he
writes compliance and sample plans
for testing for Legionella in hospitals,
hotels, offices and more.
Aaron Stancik leads the company's
scientific initiatives as VP of science.
Before CannaSafe, Stancik was the
chief science officer at Earth Labs,
where he supervised a staff of 30
employees and led the company
through ISO 17025 accreditation and
Metrc implementation. He earned a
Ph.D. in physical chemistry in 2012
from the University of Ohio, where
he studied spectroscopy and
biochemistry.
New Jersey Trade Group
Changes Leadership
The New Jersey CannaBusiness
Association announced that Scott
Rudder stepped down as president.
Edmund DeVeaux, policy director for
the NJ CannaBusiness Association
and a lobbyist with Burton Trent Public
Affairs, will take Rudder's place,
according to NJ.com.
DeVeaux has worked as a capitalbudget
analyst in the U.S. Department
of the Treasury's Office of Management
and Budget. He also has worked for
former U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley and
served as New Brunswick mayor.
DeVeaux also served as an officer in
the U.S. Army.
Rudder, a former mayor and state
assemblyman who founded the
association, will stay on as a member
of its board of directors.
Tara " Misu " Sargente, founder of
the edibles company Blazin' Bakery,
will move from executive director
of the New Jersey CannaBusiness
Association to its board of directors.
No replacement has been identified
for the executive director role, NJ.com
reported.
Bill Caruso, a lobbyist with Archer
Public Affairs who currently sits on the
board of the association, was appointed
general counsel of the trade group.
TGOD Changes CEOs
Toronto-based cannabis producer The
Green Organic Dutchman replaced CEO
Brian Athaide amid mounting losses.
Athaide, who joined TGOD in March
2018 as chief financial officer and
70 Marijuana Business Magazine | January 2021
became CEO a few months later, also
stepped down from TGOD's board.
Chief Financial Officer Sean
Bovingdon will fill in as CEO on
an interim basis. Vice President
of Operations Michel Gagné was
promoted to CFO.
The decision to swap CEOs " was
made by the board of directors, " a
company spokesperson told Marijuana
Business Daily via email.
Athaide's severance is being
negotiated.
Vertosa Innovation Officer Appointed
to Cannabis Regulatory Commission
Vertosa, an Oakland, California-based
cannabis company that makes
customized emulsion systems for
infused products, announced that
Chief Innovation Officer Austin
Stevenson was appointed by Mayor
Libby Schaaf to serve on Oakland's
Cannabis Regulatory Commission.
Stevenson also was recently
selected to be an advisory board
member for Eaze's Momentum
Program, a business accelerator
designed to support and empower
underrepresented founders in the
licensed cannabis industry. Stevenson
is one of three newly announced board
members, who also include former
National Basketball Association player
Matt Barnes and Kiva Confections
founder Kristi Palmer.
Valens Announces Change
to its Board of Directors
The Valens Co. in Kelowna, British
Columbia, announced that Renee
Merrifield stepped down from the
board of directors after she was
elected to the Legislative Assembly of
the Kelowna-Mission district of British
Columbia in the provincial general
election held Oct. 24. Merrifield
served on Valens' board of directors
as an independent member and a
member of the board nominating
and corporate governance committee
since June 2020.
http://www.NJ.com http://www.NJ.com
MJBizMag January 2021

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