CALGARY and SANTA ROSA, CA, Jan. 21, 2019 /CNW/ – Gabriella’s Kitchen Inc. (“GABY” or the “Company”) (CSE: GABY), an innovative and leading-edge cannabis wellness company, is pleased to announce the appointment of Jamie Fay as President & COO of GABY.
Jamie is the former Chief Customer Officer and General Manager of The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAIN) where he was responsible for US and international sales, strategic planning, and operations. Jamie is currently a member of the Whole Foods Market Supplier Council.
Jamie also has extensive industry experience driving innovative strategic initiatives as Senior Vice President, Global Sales at Nature’s Path Foods and Senior Vice President, Retail Strategy & Operations at Mars Inc. He brings with him over 20 years of delivering top-line growth objectives while maintaining commitments against financial returns and will contribute his skills and expertise to the development and achievement of GABY‘s vision to penetrate and lead the market as a trusted cannabis wellness company.
Margot Micallef, Founder and CEO of GABY, said:
“Recruiting Jamie is a big win for GABY and further highlights the opportunity in cannabis.
When someone of Jamie’s calibre sees the opportunity to bring his mainstream consumer packaged goods (“CPG“) experience to the cannabis world, it points directly to the upside potential in the branded cannabis space which GABY operates in.
She continued: “Many agree that there are numerous similarities between the cannabis industry and the early days in the organic and natural products industry. GABY will benefit greatly from the recent executives we have brought on to our team who are bringing their expertise in CPG to the nascent cannabis industry.”
Jamie joins former Hain Celestial colleagues, Maureen Putman, now special advisor to GABY, and Irwin Simon, now Aphria‘s (TSX: APHA) independent Chair of the Board of Directors, in applying their organic and natural food industry success to the cannabis industry. Jamie will be instrumental in driving exponential growth to GABY‘s THC products though application of his mainstream experience in the licensed channel and will greatly expedite GABY‘s introduction of CBD products into the mainstream, given his network and industry experience and customer centric approach to driving category in partnership with retailers.
The addition of Jamie to the GABY team will leverage these similarities and his industry knowledge to drive growth in the same manner he oversaw in his previous executive positions.
As GABY continues to grow, Jamie’s experience maintaining a customer-centric approach to managing multiple operating divisions and his leadership over significant distribution growth at Hain Celestial will be invaluable assets. His success in developing transformational initiatives resulting in brand growth and increased market-share will help drive GABY as a cannabis industry pioneer, combining highly innovative infused products with its strong wellness-industry roots to continue its mission of empowering people to live healthy lives.
“I am beyond excited to be joining the strong leadership team at GABY,” stated Mr. Fay. “I am particularly impressed with the dual channel sales strategy employed by GABY which allows the Company to sell its infused products in the licensed cannabis channel and its un-infused and CBD products in conventional grocery. I am also impressed with the progress GABY has made over the last year: they have acquired a manufacturing facility and license, are in the process of completing the acquisition of a distribution company and license, developed new infused products and brought them to market and hired additional management with expertise in the cannabis space,” he continued. “Margot and her team have accomplished more in the last twelve months than many cannabis companies have accomplished in three years.”
GABY‘s alto™ and Aunt Zelda’s™ cannabis-based and infused products are currently in licensed retail locations throughout California and its un-infused products are currently in over 3400 conventional grocery stores throughout the US and Canada.
ABOUT GABRIELLA’S KITCHEN INC.
GABY is a US-focused, cannabis wellness company holding a manufacturing license and will hold a distribution license issued by the California Bureau of Cannabis Control upon closing of its acquisition of Sonoma Pacific Distribution, announced October 23, 2018. With these licenses, its existing infrastructure of major retailers and an extensive broker and distribution network, GABY is positioned to service mainstream grocery with CBD infused products, as well as licensed cannabis retailers with CBD and THC-infused edible and wellness products.
Margot and her sister Gabriella co-founded GABY, a wellness company, after Gabriella received a dire cancer diagnosis which spurred the sisters to prolong Gabriella’s life through a holistic approach to health. Today, GABY is a wellness company with its own manufacturing infrastructure and a diverse range of products that use cannabis to address a variety of dietary and health concerns. Although Gabriella ultimately passed away from her illness, she lived exponentially longer than doctors predicted. Her memory and passion live on through GABY‘s mission: to empower people to live healthy lives without compromise.
To learn more, please visit the Company’s website at www.gabriellas-kitchen.com.
SOURCE Gabriella’s Kitchen
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