Viridium Pacific Group Names New CEO

Biotech & MedTech, Food, Health & Wellness

October 15, 2018 (Source) — The Board of Directors of Viridium Pacific Group Ltd. (“Viridium” or the “Company”) (TSX-V: VIR; OTC PINK: VIRFF) is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Jay Garnett to the position of President & Chief Executive Officer, commencing today. Jay’s mandate at Viridium is to steer the company through its next phase of growth and position it for success in the new markets opening up with the legalization of cannabis in Canada. “We are fortunate to have someone of Jay’s caliber and entrepreneurial background join us at this critical stage to develop and implement our strategy for growth, building on the momentum we have established as one of the early entrants in the cannabis sector,” said Harry McWatters, Chairman of the Board.

Jay, a seasoned entrepreneur, founded Seattle’s Best Coffee Canada in 1993 and expanded it across the country until it was acquired by Starbucks in 2007. He was the Executive Chairman and CEO of Steaz (a brand of organic green tea beverages previously owned by Nestle’s venture capital arm, Inventages.) Jay ran the business for three years driving its restructure, rebranding, and positioning the brand for eventual sale. Jay was an early investor in Spud.ca and one of four partners who purchased the company out of near bankruptcy in 2010. Initially Jay focused on developing the company’s digital platform and go-to market strategy but spent most of his seven years at Spud in a board capacity. Jay most recently founded the online liquor platform, New District.ca, which he built and ran as CEO alongside Icon Fine Wine which he founded in 2004 and sold in 2017. Jay is a past Chairman of the Board of The Vancouver Club, and is currently on the Board of Alteri Insurance. Jay completed entrepreneurship programs at Stanford University and MIT.

“Throughout my entrepreneurial career, I have focused on being ahead of consumer trends, behavioural shifts and finding ways to bridge product offerings with consumer desires,” says Jay. “Now at Viridium, I have an unique opportunity to define and educate the market through one of the largest shift in consumer goods in history.”

We are pleased to report that Mr. Jarrett Malnarich, formerly Viridium’s interim CEO, will remain with the company as an executive and transition to the role of Senior Vice President & Chief Operating Officer. We believe Jay’s leadership and vision, partnered with Jarrett’s strong operational background, history, product and market knowledge will provide Viridium with a solid platform on which to build and grow our wholesale business, selling into both the medical and recreational markets. We very much appreciate Jarrett’s guidance and leadership growing the company over four years from the application through its first sale to one of Canada’s largest Licensed producers.

Mr. Jarrett Malnarick remarked, “It has been a pleasure to serve as interim CEO at Viridium. Over this time, we have remained focused on completing the licensing process and launching our commercial operations. I welcome Jay to the team, and look forward to working together to bring Viridium through its next stage of development and growth.”

About Viridium

Viridium Pacific Group Ltd. is the parent company of operating subsidiaries involved in horticultural production, (Experion Biotechnologies Inc.) property development (Fish Trap Ventures Ltd.), and human resource management (Stave Lake Services Ltd.) Experion Biotechnologies Inc., is a Health Canada licensed producer of cannabis, which operates in an 8,300 square-foot indoor facility outside of Mission, BC.

More information about Viridium can be found under the Company’s profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Disclosure

This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities laws. Although the Company believes that such information is reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct.

Forward-looking information is typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, forecast, postulate and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking information provided by the Company are not guarantees of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking information as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to: the state of the financial markets for the Company’s equity securities; recent market volatility; the Company’s ability to raise the necessary capital or to be fully able to implement its business strategies; the risks identified in the Filing Statement, and other risks and factors that the Company is unaware of at this time. The reader is referred to the Filing Statement dated September 25, 2017, and/or the most recent annual and interim Management’s Discussion and Analysis for a more complete discussion of such risk factors and their potential effects, copies of which may be accessed through the Company page on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.