Auxly’s leadership comprises cannabis first-movers and enterprising
visionaries with deep industry knowledge and scientific and technical
expertise, distinctly positioning the company to bring innovative,
effective and high-quality cannabis products to the medical, wellness
and adult-use markets.
Management Team
Hugo Alves
Chief Executive Officer
Hugo has played a key role in
shaping the regulated cannabis
industry in Canada, including
acting as counsel and advisor to
many of the industry's leading
companies. Hugo is also the co-founder
of Hope for Health, the world's
first registered charity focused
medical cannabis and an adjunct
professor at the University of
Western Ontario Law School,
where he co-created and teaches
Marijuana Law and Practice.
Prior to founding Auxly, Hugo was
a senior corporate and commercial
Partner at Bennett Jones LLP
where he built the firm's cannabis
practice group. Hugo obtained his
BA from Carleton University,
and obtained his
Doctor of Law from the University
of Toronto.
Chuck Rifici
Chairman
Chuck is a pioneer of the North American cannabis industry, having created and managed opportunities which have had an incredible and widespread impact on the Canadian cannabis landscape.
The founder of Canopy Growth (FKA Tweed Marijuana), Chuck is a chartered professional accountant (CPA). He obtained his MBA from Queen’s University and holds a BASc in Computer Engineering from the University of Ottawa.
Jeff Tung, CFA
Chief Operating Officer
Jeff brings significant senior leadership and finance expertise to the Auxly team, with previous experience personally managing over USD $3 billion in business transactions and investments.
Prior to joining Auxly Jeff co-founded CPS Management Partners, whose portfolio companies became the largest workers’ compensation claims administrator in Canada. Jeff holds an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business, as well as a BEng from the University of British Columbia.
Mike Lickver
Senior Vice President, Strategy
Mike specializes in international commercial transactions, and has played a key role across many areas of the business within the Canadian corporate cannabis industry. He regularly speaks at industry conferences, and is the Canadian Editor of the International Cannabis Law Journal.
Prior to joining Auxly, Mike co-founded the cannabis practice alongside Hugo Alves at Bennett Jones LLP. He obtained his MBA and JD degrees from the University of Western Ontario and the Richard Ivey School of Business.
Brad McNamee
Chief Infrastructure Officer
Brad specializes in HVAC design and design build services for residential, commercial and industrial projects, and was instrumental in the early development of the Canopy Growth indoor growth facility.
Now leading some of the most highly qualified design and build experts in the legal cannabis industry, Brad holds an Applied Arts and Technology from Algonquin College. He is also qualified under the Ontario Building Code.
Ian Rapsey
Chief Creative Officer
Ian is an award-winning creative director, with experience garnered from working closely with major local and international brands. His most notable efforts within the cannabis space include the brand rollouts of industry giants Tweed Inc. and Bedrocan Canada.
Prior to joining Auxly, Ian was a creative lead at world-class design and branding agency Bruce Mau Design, where he drove significant creative and strategic development of leading brands.
Brian Schmitt
Chief Financial Officer
Brian is instrumental in supporting the growth of the organization through strategic acquisitions and capital market transactions.
A member of the Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario and the CFA Institute, Brian was most recently the CFO of Enercare Inc., following a tenured career of senior financial roles across a number of leading institutions. He holds a BA (Commerce) degree from Western University, and a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Windsor.
Jeff (JJ) O’Neill
Head of Commercial
Jeff brings over 25 years’ experience within the consumer packaged goods space, adding key value and insights to the business strategy and objectives
Prior to joining Auxly Jeff acted as President and Chief Operating Officer at High Liner Foods, driving development of an iconic Canadian brand. He holds an MBA from the University of Liverpool, UK and is currently pursuing his Doctorate in Business.
Travis Wong
Vice President, Finance
Vladimir Klacar
Vice President, Regulatory Affairs & Associate General Counsel
Ron Fichter
General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
Carla Nawrocki
Vice President, Investor Relations
Jason Sonshine
Vice President, Strategy
Sarah Bain
Vice President, External Affairs
Dara Gill
Vice President, Operations
Sasha Kaplun
Vice President, Corporate Development
Torin Moore
Vice President, Infrastructure
Strategic Advisors
David Hyde M.Sc., CPC
David is Canada’s top independent security consultant. Over a 32-year career, David has advised governments and corporations, secured some of Canada’s most iconic landmarks and built the enterprise security program for a $19 billion global corporation protecting 60 million square feet of facility assets across Canada and globally. David’s security advisory firm, David Hyde & Associates, has extensive experience and unrivalled success in security consultation within the regulated cannabis sector across Canada and internationally.
Over the past four years under Canada’s federal medical cannabis regulations, David Hyde & Associates has provided security consulting services to almost 150 MMPR/ACMPR license applicants, attended 22 Pre-license Inspections with Health Canada and worked with 17 licensed producers sites. David sits as the only Canadian member on the Security Committee for the Foundation of Cannabis Unified Standards (FOCUS).
Joshua Kappel, Esq.
Josh is a Partner at Vicente Sederberg specializing in risk-assessment for multi-national corporations and financial transactions in the highly regulated US cannabis industry. Josh was a drafters of Amendment 64 in Colorado which legalized cannabis for adult use. He is also a founding board member of the National Cannabis Bar Association (NCBA), Council for Responsible Cannabis Regulation (CRCR), Simplifya and VS Tech Ventures.
In addition to his work with Vicente Sederberg, Josh is currently the Associate Director of Sensible Colorado, advocating for medical marijuana patient rights. He testified at numerous public hearings on issues related to medical marijuana, sat on many conference panels and routinely writes articles about a myriad of medical marijuana issues. Josh’s work has been highlighted in the Denver Post, Colorado Springs Gazette, Westword, Kush Magazine, West Coast Leaf and Colorado Springs Independent.
Elfi Daniel-Ivad
Elfi serves as Head of Submissions, Regulatory at Eurofins Experchem Laboratories Inc. She leads a team of regulatory professionals in the development of regulatory submission strategies for Natural Health Products, OTC drugs, cosmetics, medical devices, food products, site licenses, medical establishment licences and applicants to become licensed producers of cannabis (LPs). Eurofins Experchem Laboratories Inc. is currently working with more than 130 LP applicants under Elfi’s leadership. Over the last decade, Elfi developed a proven style of dealing with Health Canada resulting in an excellent track record of having regulatory submissions and applications approved.
Elfi received a B.Sc. in Technical Chemistry, and a MSc in Biotechnology and Nutrition from the Technical University of Graz, Austria, as well as a Postgraduate Regulatory Affairs Diploma (PRA) from the Academy of Applied Pharmaceutical Sciences Inc. (AAPS), Toronto.
David Perruzza
David is the Director of Strategic Partnerships for Rouge Media Group, a leading North American place-based media company connecting brands with millions of consumers on their daily journey. Rouge Media brings brands to life by combining large format and digital media, mobile targeting, data, amplification, and live event activations to audiences in their Campus, Women's, Men's and Resto Bar networks. David leads all tobacco and cannabis brand building activity within Rouge Media's specialized Legal Audience Branding Solutions (LABS) network.
Prior to Rouge Media, David spent over 11 years leading multiple B2B & B2C marketing initiatives with Philip Morris International in Canada. He has extensive expertise directing customized brand building programs, as well as strategic marketing plans in highly legislated and regulated market environments. David has proven ability steering brand preference and information advertising into dynamic consumer/retail/employee solutions.
Board of Directors
Chuck Rifici
Hugo Alves
Troy Grant
Since 2000, Troy has held senior positions in the financial service sector, including head of corporate finance at a Canadian broker dealer, focusing on the resource sector and more recently head of institutional European sales. He has also been instrumental in venture formation, financing and development of a number of resource, technology and agriculture companies operating globally. Troy is currently the CEO of Elcora Advanced Materials, a TSX Venture Exchange-listed graphene materials company. He holds a BBA, economics, from Saint Francis Xavier University.
Genevieve Young
Genevieve Young is the President and Chief Operating Officer of Global Public Affairs, Canada’s leading privately held strategic communications and government advocacy consultancy representing some of Canada’s largest and most dynamic organizations. Genevieve has two decades of experience in public affairs, leading national mandates and campaigns across jurisdictions and managing multiple stakeholders, government(s) and media. Genevieve’s focus has expanded to the emerging cannabis industry as the executive champion of Global Public Affairs’ Cannabis team guiding the practice as they rapidly scale to meet market and service evolution demand. Genevieve is responsible for all Global Public Affairs’ corporate functions, driving an aggressive growth trajectory across all existing and potential markets, practice and service lines. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Canadian Politics and an MBA from the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University.
Jean-Paul Gaillard
Jean-Paul Gaillard is a seasoned executive with more than 30 years of experience leading large organizations as Chief Executive Officer. Most recently, Jean-Paul was the Founder, Chairman and CEO of Ethical Coffee Company where he was instrumental in turning the single serve-coffee from a monopoly into a free-market, effectively launching the fastest growing segment in the food and beverages sector. Prior to Ethical Coffee, Jean-Paul was the CEO of Mövenpick Foods where he was responsible for the successful reorganization and sale of the company to Nestlé. In addition, Jean-Paul spent 10 years as the CEO of Nespresso based in their global headquarters in Switzerland where he created and implemented the business model that has made Nespresso a world-renowned brand. Jean-Paul completed his studies in Business Administration at the University of California, Los Angeles in addition to the Lemania School of Business, Lausanne.
