The Green Organic Dutchman (TGOD.T) has appointed Dr. Ray Kumar as its new chief science officer.
TGOD’s latest science-related appointment adds onto their most recent board-shuffle earlier this month. The company added a medical doctor and a corporate strategist. Kumar will head up TGOD’s science and innovation division providing oversight to all of TGOD’s science-related initiatives, such as their proposed lines of THC-infused beverages, topicals and edibles. These do not presently have a due-date attached for release.
“We are incredibly excited to welcome Dr. Kumar to TGOD. He is a proven and seasoned senior executive with extensive international pharmaceutical experience in developing innovative and novel products with some of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies,” said Brian Athaide, CEO and director of TGOD.
As seasoned senior executive with international experience spanning three continents, Kumar has more than 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry. He has been credited with the creation of several multi-million dollar industry-academic partnerships, and was the recipient of the 2014 Award for Leadership in Canadian Pharmaceutical Sciences.
Kumar has previously held senior leadership positions with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK.LON), one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies with a current valuation of $129 billion. While at GSK, Kumar worked on a number of different projects, including vaccines, and the development of GSK’s Canadian R&D wing. His credits also include the execution of a successful $150 million spin-out of GSK’s Vaccines R&D to form Neomed Biologics and Vaccines Centre of Excellence in Montreal.
“We believe Dr. Kumar, combined with our recent additions of Dr. MacCallum and Jacques Dessureault, establishes a strong foundation for our science and medical team and will provide leadership in global organic cannabis to drive premium innovative solutions for both patients and consumers,” said Athaide.
Prior to joining TGOD, Kumar served as the managing director of Apotex India, and was responsible for establishing “Apotex Global Business Services” in Mumbai.
Part of this involved building a new leadership team, crafting business processes, and forming and reinforcing relationships with Apotex global operations. Apotex is Canada’s largest private pharmaceutical company with domestic sales of $1.9 billion.
Kumar’s noteworthy volunteer and board experience includes a term as president for the Canadian Society for Pharmaceutical Sciences, and a board member of CQDM Pharmaceutical Consortium for Drug Discovery Platforms, and the National Steering Committee for Patient-Oriented Research.
This board shuffle comes just in time for TGOD to begin capitalizing on their relationship with HelloMD, which they indicated would be the medium by which they sold premium, certified-organic cannabis to medical patients.
Here is TGOD’s director, Drew Campbell, talking about that last month:
–Joseph Morton
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