Heritage Cannabis Holdings (CANN.C) announced the appointment of Canadian wine-making legend, Donald Ziraldo, to its board.
The company also named interim CEO, Clint Sharples, as Heritage’s permanent commander in chief.
In 1999, National Post Business Magazine named Ziraldo as one of the top 25 Canadian CEOs of the century.
Ziraldo, a member of the Order of Canada, became an icon in the Canadian wine industry after successfully launching the first licensed winery in Canada since the end of Prohibition.
The storied wine guru also holds an honorary Doctor of Laws Degree from both Brock University (1994) and University of Guelph (2018) as well as a B.Sc. in Agriculture from University of Guelph (1971).
In addition, Ziraldo is a founding chair of the Vintner’s Quality Alliance, Canada’s wine-growing regulatory body and a recipient of the Diamond Jubilee Award, a Canadian award meant to “honour significant contributions and achievements by Canadians” in the last 60 years.
Over the last three decades, Ziraldo has been totally immersed in the wine industry. He served as co-founder and president of Inniskillin, chairman of the board for the Vineland Research & Innovation Centre as well as director for both Cannasat Therapeutics, currently known as Cynapsus, and Vincor International, acquired by Constellations Brands (STZ.NYSE) for USD$1.3 billion in 2006.
Sharples, president, director and now permanent CEO, lends almost 30 years of business development and operational management experience to Heritage.
A partner in First Growth Management since its inception in 2005, Sharples has performed in a wide range of executive roles including president and CEO of Modu-Loc Fence Rentals since 2009.
Heritage tapped Sharples for the position of interim CEO back in September when Jagdip Bal stepped down as CEO and director.
The company, rejigged from its days as a miner, is making the final touches to its transformation as a cannabis issuer and Ziraldo is an important piece to that puzzle.
“Heritage is fortunate to have Donald Ziraldo join our board and take on the position of Chairman. His past successes in business, his experience dealing with regulatory bodies and his knowledge of Canadian liquor boards will all be valuable to us. I look forward to continuing as the official CEO of Heritage as we build a team to take us forward,” Sharples said.
When Ziraldo planted Inniskillin’s first vineyard in 1971, he capitalized on a nascent domestic market, giving consumers an option that not only tickled local taste buds, but delighted critics and wine drinkers the world over.
Ziraldo now brings those same skills to another nascent vertical.
“I’m excited to join the Heritage team and continue driving their strategic objectives forward. The cannabis market presents a significant growth opportunity similar to the wine industry and Heritage is well-positioned to establish a strong leadership position in this quickly evolving market,” Ziraldo commented.
Heritage widens extraction capabilities
Heritage announced the expansion of its extraction capacity today with the order of three new Vitalis extraction systems.
The company intends to send two of the new units to CannaCure in Fort Erie with the remaining unit earmarked to be an addition to PhyeinMed’s existing extraction unit in Falkland, B.C.
Delivery of the units is expected by the end of February and Heritage execs anticipate installation to be complete by the end of March.
Upon licensing, the company says it will become one of the largest processing companies in Canada when it comes to extraction capacity.
Sharples shared his optimism for 2019 and the reason behind it:
“The team at Heritage continues to execute our business plan, driving our company forward towards our ultimate goal of becoming a fully integrated, industry leader in the Canadian cannabis industry. The expertise we acquired from Purefarma Solutions in December has allowed us to expedite extraction plans and will enable us to achieve our revenue goals set for Q2.”
The next 12 months will be active for Heritage as the company moves to fill out its ranks, ramp up production to capacity at CannaCure and significantly grow its extraction business through its other subsidiary, Purefarma Solutions
Heritage was in the news recently when the company announced its subsidiary, CannaCure had harvested its first cannabis crop at the Fort Erie facility.
Share price eased up $0.02 to sit at $0.25 by the end of trading.
Currently the company has 375,786,109 issued and outstanding shares with a market cap of $86.4 million.
–Gaalen Engen
Full Disclosure: Heritage Cannabis Holdings is an Equity.Guru marketing client.