BRNT Ltd. announced the appointment of Gage Gorda as Chief Executive Officer, Ryan McDonald as Chairman of the Board, David Schwede, President of Recreational Cannabis at Heritage Cannabis Holdings Corp and Murray Hodgins, both as Director. As appointed by Pinene Alternative Ventures Inc (PAV), Mr. Gorda is taking over as CEO upon amicable resignation by Mr. Simon Grigenas who is pursuing other opportunities.
“Simon was a co-founder of BRNT and ultimate visionary behind the inception of the business and was the leader in assembling a world-class team,” said Mr. McDonald. “Simon’s vision is the reason that both myself and my team originally invested in BRNT in 2019 and we have enjoyed working closely with him since the early days of the business and wish him success in his new venture”.
Mr. Gorda is an experienced leader in the Canadian cannabis industry having spent the last 5 years participating in the start up, mobilization and disposition of numerous private retail cannabis businesses, including one of the largest retail acquisitions in the Country to date. Mr. Gorda is a Principal of Prairie Commercial Mortgage Corp. and consults to PAV., both firms servicing the cannabis industry assisting cannabis entrepreneurs facilitate debt & equity solutions to fuel the growth of their businesses.
“I am excited to be joining BRNT as CEO and supporting the incredible talent assembled at the company as we enter a phase of maturation and growth. Alongside the working capital runway secured with closing of the PAV financing and working closely with Ryan & David and the rest of the Board & team, I look forward to BRNT’s further capturing of market share through our Violet Tourist brand in the Canadian market as well as the entrance of our BRNT Designs accessories in the American market”.
David Schwede was the co-founder & CEO of Premium 5 Ltd (P5)., a Canadian leader within the cannabis concentrates segment which was acquired by Heritage Cannabis in February 2021 for total consideration of $41 million. Alongside Ryan McDonald, who sat as a member of P5’s Board of Directors, David is a co-founder of Pinene Alternative Ventures. “I am honoured for the opportunity to assist Gage, Ryan and the BRNT team with their capital light business model, launching unique & demanded offerings within the dried flower & pre-roll segments in Canada“.
Further, Murray Hodgins, an experienced entrepreneur in the Canadian transportation industry and founding investor of BRNT has joined the firm’s Board, Annie Do has been promoted to Chief Operating Officer and Jordan King promoted to National Sales Director. Tarek Ahmed, CFO of BRNT and Roy Martin, Advisory Board Chair of the University of Alberta’s School of Retailing will continue to hold position as members of BRNT’s Board of Directors.
BRNT is an Edmonton, AB based private business providing brand, sales, marketing, and distribution solutions to the Canadian cannabis industry. Through its partnership with Candre Cannabis, BRNT has launched several dried flower and pre-roll formats in the Alberta recreational market under the Violet Tourist brand (currently a top 10 pre-roll brand in Alberta) and is launching additional pre-roll SKUs under the BRNT house brand. BRNT can be found at https://www.brnt.ca/ and on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/brntdesigns/ and Twitter – https://twitter.com/brntgroup.