The Flowr Corporation announce the appointment of Darryl Brooker as Chief Executive Officer of the Company and the appointment of Noel Biderman to the Board of Directors of the Company.
CEO Appointment
Prior to joining the Company, beginning in January 2018, Mr. Brooker served as the President of Mission Hill Family Estate (Mark Anthony Group), a Kelowna-based winery. From February 2017 to January 2018, Mr. Brooker was the General Manager of Mission Hill Family Estate, having previously acted as Vice President of Winemaking from July 2015 to February 2017. Mr. Brooker has extensive experience in senior roles, also having acted as Vice President of Winemaking and Operations at CedarCreek Estate Winery from May 2010 to July 2015, and as Senior Winemaker at Andrew Peller Limited from April 2005 to May 2010.
Mr. Brooker is a graduate of the Wine Executive Program at University of California Davis (2018), having previously earned a graduate diploma in wine business management at the University of Adelaide, Australia (2003) and a Bachelor of Applied Science, Wine Science at Charles Sturt University, Australia (2001). Mr. Brooker currently serves as a Board Member and Vice Chair at each of British Columbia Wine Institute and Wine Growers Canada.
“On behalf of the Board of Directors, we are very excited to have a seasoned CPG executive like Darryl joining our Company,” commented Steve Klein, Chair of the Board of Directors. “Darryl has an extensive track record of building regulated CPG businesses in Canada with a hands-on approach to management. In 2021, we expect Flowr to become focused keenly on maintaining its reputation as a leading premium cannabis brand as it progresses to profitability. Darryl will bring fiscal discipline, leadership and the type of mindset needed to succeed in the cannabis industry. Moreover, the parallels between the premium wine business and the premium cannabis business are well known, and Darryl’s career as an executive that started with grape cultivation, then wine production, before becoming a leader of organizations, gives Darryl a unique set of skills and experience to benefit Flowr’s business.”
“Since the acquisition of Terrace Global Inc. in late December 2020, Flowr has made significant progress, becoming a financially conscious, consumer-focused company that is building a professional leadership team to manage and operate one of the most sophisticated cannabis facilities in the world. Within the first quarter of 2021, the Company has taken immediate steps to streamline its business and focus on what it does best – cultivate high end cannabis,” commented Steve Klein. “The Company has taken steps to shed non-core assets and bolster its balance sheet. In the first quarter, the Company raised approximately $16 million and is now in the process of selling more than $5 million of non-core assets while also shedding excess SG&A expenses related with its non-core business in Australia.”
Darryl Brooker commented: “I am very excited to be joining the talented, award winning Flowr team. The state-of-the-art cultivation campus, located in Kelowna, British Columbia, in addition to the partnership with Hawthorne in creating north America’s first research and development facility focused on cannabis, uniquely positions the Company to expand market share in the premium dried flower category within Canada. In addition, Flowr’s presence in the European Union with its wholly-owned subsidiary, Holigen Holdings Limited, includes a fully certified E.U. GMP facility strategically located in Portugal to allow Flowr to expand in the emerging European market.”
The Company also announces that Lance Emanuel tendered his resignation as President and Interim Chief Executive Officer of the Company, effective May 3, 2021, to pursue another opportunity in the United States. The Company would like to sincerely thank Lance for all of his contributions and services over the past years as President, and more recently, Interim Chief Executive Officer. The Company wishes Lance well in his next endeavour.
Board of Directors
Flowr is pleased to announce that Noel Biderman has joined the Board of Directors of the Company effective immediately. Mr. Biderman is an international CEO, founder, author, speaker and lecturer. Mr. Biderman has overseen companies in a number of different verticals, most recently in the legal technology and online dating spaces, but in addition, in the IPTV, online real estate, and sports management arena. These companies have generated over a $1 billion in revenue and operate in over 50 countries and 20 different languages. The global marketing campaigns created by Mr. Biderman resulted in those services and websites becoming some of the most visited in the world. As a graduate of Osgoode Hall Law school, Mr. Biderman represented 47 professional athletes around the globe including in the NBA, NFL, as well as members of Canada’s Olympic team.
Mr. Biderman’s literary publications include SmartCountry (fiction), Cheaters Prosper (International Best Seller), Adultropology (non-fiction), and he has appeared as a Speaker at TEDx and Big Think, as a lecturer at Yale University, and as a commentator on Bloomberg and CNBC.
Effective immediately Vinay Tolia has resigned from the Board of Directors.
The Flowr Corporation is a Toronto-headquartered cannabis company with operations in Canada, Europe, and Australia. Its Canadian operating campus, located in Kelowna, BC, includes a purpose-built, GMP-designed indoor cultivation facility; an outdoor and greenhouse cultivation site; and a state-of-the-art R&D facility. From this campus, Flowr produces recreational and medicinal products. For more information, please visit flowrcorp.com.
