At Nextleaf, we’ve gathered some of the brightest minds in the industry with decades of cannabis experience, notable pioneers of extraction technology as well as some of the most talented scientists, researchers, and engineers.

Executive Officers and Board of Directors

Paul Pedersen has been focused on the cannabis industry since 2013, working with entrepreneurs and startups including Canada’s first legal cannabis oil producer that was acquired in 2016 by The Cronos Group (TSE: CRON). Previously, Paul founded a media company that was acquired in 2007 by Towerstream Corporation (NASDAQ: TWER), and spent 10 years in capital markets. Paul holds a MBA in Finance from Michigan State University and a Bachelors of Commerce Degree from the Sobey School of Business at Saint Mary’s University. Paul grew up in Langley, B.C. in a dairy farming family.

Through a 15+ year career in the cannabis industry, Ryan is an inventor of 24 issued patents and over 60 patent applications pertaining to the industrial-scale extraction and distillation of cannabinoids

Charles is a CPA, CA with extensive experience in corporate finance and financial reporting for high growth companies. Charles has successfully lead mergers and acquisitions, divestitures and private and public capital raises.

Sherry is the CEO and Co-Founder of CannDelta Inc., where she is responsible for providing regulatory expertise and developing strategies to ensure regulatory compliance within Canada’s existing cannabis framework.

Experienced in financial and executive management, strategic planning, process improvement, taxation and over $345MM in mergers and acquisitions.

Fred has held senior positions in public service with government for 22 years where he initiated and lead projects in environmental geology, land reclamation and public safety. He has extensive experience engaging communities and navigating large scale projects to create mutually beneficially outcomes for all parties.

As a process engineer since 2005, Dr. Pal has worked applying fundamental chemical engineering and applied scientific principles to problems in many diverse fields, including oils and extraction technologies, biodiesel processing and petrochemical industry.

Taran’s successfully tripled the size of the patent and trademark portfolios for firms he’s worked with, while reducing the aggregate total IP expenses incurred. Taran has managed IP protection at major international tech companies.

Natasha brings 20 years’ experience in various production, laboratory, and QA/QC roles from a number of pharmaceutical and natural health product companies.

Dr. Jia joined Nextleaf in March, 2019 eager to apply her knowledge and skills in Analytical Chemistry to the burgeoning cannabis space; an industry she believes has tremendous potential to improve the quality of lives.

Dr. Novitski attended The University of Texas at Dallas where he received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemistry, where he worked as a Research Assistant at the NanoTech Institute with a focus on novel nanomaterials.

Catherine’s invested her time and talents in cannabis since the beginning of her career. While a passion for cultivation is what initially drew her into the cannabis industry, she’s immersed herself in all elements of the value chain, including processing, product development, regulatory, and patient care.

A Human Resources Professional who creates, develops and delivers programs to support the needs of teams and individuals, increasing engagement, adding value and contributing growth to the bottom line through highly engaged and productive staff.

Emma is a dynamic leader with proven expertise in building global lifestyle brands. She combines her passion for education, innovation, health sciences and marketing to deliver an “anything but average” approach to building world-class programs, products, and experiences. Most recently, Emma was a Partner, and Co-Founder of a multi-national strategic consulting company.

Ryan’s dedicated to driving brand growth through intelligent marketing strategy, with a focus on digital and event marketing. He’s successfully built online assets and infrastructure from the ground-up for emerging and established companies and led the execution of globally reaching event activations to engage industry, investor, and consumer audiences alike.

One of Nextleaf’s longest standing employees, Adel is an integral contributor to the company’s operational excellence.

We're building a legacy based on decades of experience and education

At Nextleaf, we’ve gathered some of the brightest minds in the industry with decades of cannabis experience, notable pioneers of extraction technology as well as some of the most talented scientists, researchers, and engineers.

Executive Officers and Board of Directors

Paul Pedersen, MBA

RYAN KO

CHARLES ACKERMAN, CPA, CA

Dr. Sherry Boodram, Ph.D

Tim Gillis

Fred Bonner

Science and Innovation

KRUPAL PAL, PhD, P.Eng

Taran Grey

Regulatory and Quality Assurance

Natasha Bartzila

Dr. Xuan Jia, PhD

Dr. David Novitski, PhD

Strategic Operations

Catherine Marion

Mary-Aaron

Emma Andrews, BA, NPDP, RHN

Ryan Hirsch

Adel Fares, BBA