Team
The Faces Behind the Flowers
By: Nafinney, Badlands, SK, Canada
Dustin Hawkins
Chief Executive Officer/Founder
Dustin is a third-generation horticulturist by experience and training, giving him thorough knowledge and practical application to consistently achieve high-quality genetics indoors and out. His early experience has given him the skills to handle a multitude of different circumstances safely and efficiently. A medical cannabis patient himself, he finds it extremely important to advocate and educate the public—be it for medical or recreational purposes.
Azmatali Mehrali
Chief Financial Officer/Director
Since 2006, Mr. Mehrali has served as President of a private CFO consulting business that provides regulatory and financial services to start-up brokerage firms in Canada. With over 30 years of financial services experience, he has also been CFO for several firms including Wells Fargo Canada Securities, Brookfield Securities, and Virtual Brokers. He served as Vice President, Finance at Genuity Capital Markets, Assistant Controller at Investment Technology Group Canada, and Director of Finance at CIBC World Markets.
Bilal Al-kadri
Quality Assurance Specialist/Director
A graduate from Ryerson University with Biological Sciences, Bilal Al-kadri has spent over 20 years working with big-name pharmaceutical companies, medical laboratories, hospitals and cannabis firms. He has held various senior positions that focused on process improvement, operational excellence and innovations aimed at improving product quality. Bilal currently leverages his extensive work history to provide consulting services for cannabis companies.
Richard Vandervinne
Master Grower/Director
Growing up in Vancouver, British Columbia, Richard was introduced to medical cannabis in 1995 and started producing it later that same year. He had the opportunity to work closely with Vancouver dispensaries through the “legacy years” and even earned the title of PMHC Hybrid Champion in 2015. Now, Richard is a father of two teenage daughters and still maintains his strong passion for producing high-quality cannabis.
Hugo Senecal
Master Extractor
A seven-time award-winning industry pioneer, Hugo has spent more than 15 years providing extraction services to the cannabis industry. He is recognized by the Canadian Cannabis Awards and Karma Cup for his talents in formulating exceptional recipes to achieve specific results. Providing a strong track record of success in the industry, his passion is shown within his product creations such as vapes, capsules, soft gels, concentrates, edibles, and more.
Our Board of Directors
Mary Durocher
Compliance
The President & Principal Consultant at Fox D Consulting, Mary Katherine Fox, comes from an extensive medical background and was a student of Psychology in the United States for many years. She has worked on many multidisciplinary medical teams for a diverse range of sectors, from pharmaceutical to educational. She provides independent, high-quality cannabis sector advisory services based on a defensible framework of applicable laws, regulatory standards and industry best practices over various areas.
Rick Plotnikoff
Innovation
As the founder and President of the Canadian Hemp Farmers Association, Rick was instrumental in the launch and success of this pioneering, sustainable industry—taking it public in the early nineties. In 1994, Rick successfully expanded the start-up company, Kayto-Life Herbs Inc., into a manufacturing business that increased its earnings by 120%. In 2010, Rick became Director of Novaera Fuels Ltd., a company dedicated to the development of fuels and fuel additives that contain a high percentage of components from renewable resources.