Christina Lake Cannabis Corp. announced that Mark Aiken, a seasoned cannabis executive, has joined CLC as Chief Executive Officer pending a mandatory security clearance by Health Canada and approval of the Canadian Securities Exchange. CLC anticipates it can benefit significantly from Mr. Aiken’s leadership as the Company seeks to enhance and optimize its B2B sales pipeline across Canada. Christina Lake Cannabis has continued to focus on cultivating and extracting sun-grown cannabis from a curated selection of proprietary in-house engineered strains for maximum yield and cannabinoid profile. Currently, in its third operating year with an expanded team of over 52 personnel, CLC delivers highly sought-after quality distillates and concentrates used to create Cannabis 2.0 products servicing B2B customers that include top brands across the Canadian Cannabis market.
Fluent in English, French, and Spanish, Mr. Aiken began his career in sales positions with organizations including Rema Tip Top AG (German producer of tire repair and surface protection products based in Munich, Germany), Vortex Aquatic Structures (Quebec-based developer of waterpark features), and Plombco (Quebec-based automotive wheel balance weight manufacturer) for whom Mr. Aiken grew annual sales by 82% in six years from CAD $17 million to CAD $31 million. In 2009, Mr. Aiken was awarded a Master of Business Administration (“MBA”) degree from Queens University. From 2014 through 2019, Mr. Aiken served as a management consultant for the Automotive sector across North America, focusing on strategy, marketing, and distribution growth in preparation for M&A activities. Most recently, Mr. Aiken was Vice President of Strategic Business Development for HEXO Corp., currently, Canada’s #1 Licensed Producer by Market Share and an international player in medicinal and recreational cannabis. Mr. Aiken played a pivotal role in facilitating key CPG relationships and multiple international supply agreements for expansions into Israel, Australia, and South Africa, growing HEXO’s international sales by 320%.
Upon Mr. Aiken’s appointment as CEO of Christina Lake Cannabis, current interim-CEO Joel Dumaresq will step down from his position. Mr. Dumaresq will remain a member of CLC’s Board of Directors. CLC would like to thank Mr. Dumaresq for his dedication, commitment, and leadership in helping to build the foundation for the Company.
Regarding his upcoming appointment as CEO of Christina Lake Cannabis, Mark Aiken commented, “This is a very exciting time to join CLC and its experienced Board of Directors to lead a premiere cannabis organization with solid fundamentals. Our outdoor-grown BC bud benefits from the desirable properties created by sunlight and other natural growing conditions that can only be found in the Kootenay region of British Columbia. This unique environment provides CLC with a cost advantage for our core input material. The cannabis space is becoming increasingly sophisticated both domestically and around the world, and I believe CLC is well positioned to capture market share by delivering top-quality products tailored to individual client needs. CLC premium distillates are highly regarded by our customer base due to our best-in-class production methods and great attention to detail. We provide consistent, reliable outputs that Licensed Producers and Contract Manufacturing Organizations can count on for their formulation needs. Our capacity and offerings are benefiting from our investments in technology, and I look forward to capitalizing on these opportunities.”
Joel Dumaresq added, “I am most pleased to be welcoming Mr. Aiken to the CLC family. His unparalleled acumen and enthusiasm are expected to be invaluable to the Company’s operations as we seek to expand our market position as a premier extraction and processing facility benefiting from the cultivation of proprietary cannabis strains grown outdoors under the ideal natural conditions. I am eager to be working alongside Mr. Aiken while remaining on the Board of Directors of Christina Lake Cannabis, and I anticipate we will all work very well together in the years to come as we continue to scale our organization.”
For more information:
Christina Lake Cannabis
www.christinalakecannabis.com