Proven Cannabis Executive, with Experience at The Brookings Institution and Bain & Company, to Lead Halo’s Streamlined and Retail-Focused Strategy to Drive Near-Term Profitability
Cassidy McCord Named to Halo Board of Directors
TORONTO, July 1, 2022 /CNW/ – Halo Collective Inc. (“Halo” or the “Company”) (NEO: HALO) (OTCQX: HCANF) (Germany: A9KN) today promoted Katharyn (“Katie”) Field, Halo’s President, to the position of Chief Executive Officer. Ms. Field, a proven cannabis industry professional with significant management expertise, succeeds Kiran Sidhu, who resigned as Chief Executive Officer and as a director on the Company’s Board of Directors (the “Board”), with immediate effect. Halo has also appointed experienced cannabis professional Cassidy McCord as a director on the Board.
“The Board believes the time is right for not only a change in leadership, but a change in strategy, and Katie has the right experience and capabilities to leverage the Company’s valuable assets to create tangible and sustainable shareholder value,” commented Ryan Kunkel, Chair of the Board. “We have proven our ability to generate profits in California and are successfully launching our Los Angeles retail strategy. Our focus now is to build on this success, de-emphasizing initiatives in less attractive markets and more effectively harnessing the capabilities we have developed to achieve profitability. We thank Kiran for his contributions and wish him well in his future endeavors.”
Ms. Field takes the helm at Halo with nearly a decade of direct cannabis experience spanning all facets of the business, including strategy, retail, corporate development, business development, HR & organization, legal & regulatory, and investor relations. She has been a key member of the Halo executive team since joining the company in April 2019, serving initially as Chief Strategy Officer, President since February 2020, and Board member since July 2021. She first entered the cannabis industry in 2014 at Costa Farms, where she led the procurement, build-out, and sale of one of five original vertically integrated companies in Florida; and subsequently operated a strategy consulting practice focused on cannabis and also worked at MariMed as EVP of Corporate Development. Ms. Field’s resume includes positions at The Brookings Institution and Bain & Company. She holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BA with honors from Stanford University.
“Halo is very well-positioned in the US West Coast cannabis space with a strong consumer brand portfolio and a loyal customer base. In particular, we have developed a valuable portfolio of California assets including wholesale and white label manufacturing as well as retail assets in Los Angeles,” added Ms. Field. “My initial focus will be on streamlining the organization to establish a rationalized, focused business comprised of assets that create the most value and hold the most promise. While sales are down in California year over year, our business is up. Furthermore, our manufacturing business is profitable, and the Budega stores are trending well. I’m confident that by prioritizing near-term profitability and bolstering our growing retail presence, Halo will be able to scale from a position of strength, which is the best path to generate shareholder value.”
Mr. Sidhu’s departure was the result of a mutual agreement between the Board of Halo and Mr. Sidhu, reflecting the Board’s view that the Company and Akanda (NASDAQ: AKAN), of which Halo owns approximately 40%, needs to prioritize near-term profitability.
Cassidy McCord has been appointed to the Board as a non-executive director. Ms. McCord is a seasoned capital markets professional and businesswoman who has amassed a multitude of operational and capital markets experience throughout her career. Ms. McCord has extensive experience and a valuable network, primarily in the cannabis sector. She has invaluable experience in working for a Canadian licensed cannabis producer in addition to operational and management experience at a Canadian cannabis clinic. She has been instrumental in developing and succeeding various start-up companies and restructuring pre-existing operational companies, with specialties including corporation reorganization, business development, retail, and sales. She most recently managed and held C-level positions for several public entities that are leaders in the plant-based industry. Ms. McCord has held progressively senior roles throughout her career and has held multiple board positions for public companies in the cannabis, food, and mining sectors.
Mr. Sidhu will provide consulting services to the Company for six months to facilitate a smooth leadership transition.About Halo Collective
Halo is a multi-national incubation company with assets and operations centered in both THC and non-THC sectors. For the THC sector, Halo is focused on the West Coast of the United States where it has vertically integrated operations covering the entire value chain from seed to sale. Halo cultivates, extracts, manufactures, and distributes quality cannabis flower, pre-rolls, vape carts, edibles, and concentrates. Halo sells these products under a portfolio of brands including Hush™, Winberry Farms™, Williams Wonder Farms, its retail brand Budega™, and under license agreements with Papa’s Herb®, DNA Genetics, and FlowerShop*. Halo has opened a dispensary in Los Angeles under the Budega™ brand in North Hollywood and plans to open two more in Hollywood, and Westwood in the second quarter of 2022. Halo also operates three Kushbar retail cannabis stores located in Alberta, Canada.
In the non-THC sector, Halo is expanding into health and wellness categories including CBD and functional supplements such as nootropic nutraceuticals and non-psychotropic mushrooms. Halo, through a series of acquisitions, has product offerings in the form of beverages (H2C Beverages), dissolvable strips (Dissolve Medical), capsules (Hushrooms™), and topical supplements (Hatshe) with proposed national distribution via a strategic agreement with SWAY Energy Corporation. Halo has entered a letter of intent to acquire Phytocann Holdings, one of Europe’s leading wellness CBD consumer packaged goods companies with a portfolio of value and premium brands including Ivory, Harvest Laboratoires, Easy Weed, Kanolia, Herboristerie Alexandra, Buddies and Ghosty Buds.
As an incubator, Halo has successfully acquired and integrated a variety of companies which were subsequently reorganized to create Akanda Corp. (NASDAQ: AKAN), an international medical cannabis and wellness company, of which Halo currently owns approximately 40% of the common shares. Halo has also acquired a range of software development assets, including CannPOS, Cannalift, CannaFeels, and a discrete sublingual dosing technology, Accudab. Halo intends to reorganize these entities (including their intellectual property and patent applications) into a subsidiary called Halo Tek Inc., and to complete a distribution of the shares of Halo Tek Inc. to shareholders on record, at a date to be determined.
For further information regarding Halo, see Halo’s disclosure documents on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
Connect with Halo Collective: Email | Website | LinkedIn | Twitter | InstagramCautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information and Statements
This press release contains certain “forward-looking information“ within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation and may also contain statements that may constitute “forward-looking statements“ within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking information and forward-looking statements are not representative of historical facts or information or current condition, but instead represent only Halo’s beliefs regarding future events, plans or objectives, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and outside of Halo’s control. Generally, such forward-looking information or forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “plans”, “expects” or “does not expect”, “is expected”, “budget”, “scheduled”, “estimates”, “forecasts”, “intends”, “anticipates” or “does not anticipate”, or “believes”, or variations of such words and phrases or may contain statements that certain actions, events or results “may”, “could”, “would”, “might” or “will be taken”, “will continue”, “will occur” or “will be achieved”. Forward-looking information may relate to anticipated events or results including, but not limited to the management’s plans regarding its portfolio of cannabis businesses, the expected contribution from the Company’s California dispensaries and the expected opening date thereof, the time and place for the Company’s earnings call, the expected size and capabilities of the final facility planned at Ukiah Ventures, the size of Halo’s planned cultivation facility in Northern California and the proposed spin-off by Halo Tek Inc.
By identifying such information and statements in this manner, Halo is alerting the reader that such information and statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such information and statements. In addition, in connection with the forward-looking information and forward-looking statements contained in this press release, Halo has made certain assumptions. Although Halo believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing, and the expectations contained in, the forward-looking information and statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information and statements, and no assurance or guarantee can be given that such forward-looking information and statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information and statements. Among others, the key factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information and statements are the following: inability of management to successfully integrate the operations of acquired businesses, changes in the consumer market for cannabis products, changes in the expected outcomes of the proposed changes to Halo’s operations, delays in obtaining required licenses or approvals necessary for the build-out of the Company’s cannabis operations, dispensaries or Canadian operations, the proposed spin-out with Halo Tek Inc., delays or unforeseen costs incurred in connection with construction, the ability of competitors to scale operations in Northern California, delays or unforeseen difficulties in connection with the cultivation and harvest of Halo’s raw material, changes in general economic, business and political conditions, including changes in the financial markets; and the other risks disclosed in the Company’s annual information form dated March 31, 2022 and other disclosure documents available on the Company’s profile at www.sedar.com. Should one or more of these risks, uncertainties or other factors materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking information or statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected.
The forward-looking information and forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release, and Halo does not undertake to update any forward-looking information and/or forward-looking statements that are contained or referenced herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking information and statements attributable to Halo or persons acting on its behalf is expressly qualified in its entirety by this notice.Non-Solicitation
This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described herein, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.
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SOURCE Halo Collective Inc.
