Stormy Simon Archives - Green Market Report

StaffMarch 6, 2020
Untitled-design-40.png

11min025

In honor of International Women’s Day, we are releasing our annual “Most Important Women in Weed” list for 2020. This list includes women in the industry that have collectively moved the industry forward with all of their hard work, continuous dedication and effort.

This year we opened up the list for nominations and received almost a thousand nominees. After consideration of each, we have developed what we feel is one of the most inclusive and carefully curated lists of the most accomplished and impressive women in the cannabis industry.

As we could not name them all, we would like to thank and celebrate all of the women who have dedicated their precious time to the advancement of cannabis globally.

It is because of each one of these ladies that this industry remains in the lead above all others as far as female leadership is concerned.

This list is in no special order. Each one of these women provide a great contribution to the cannabis industry in their own unique and badass way.

Thank you to every one of you for all that you do!

The “List”

Dr. Chanda Macias

Yvonne DeLaRosa Green

Mara Gordon

Rosie Mattio

Shawna McGregor

Lori Ferrara

Gaynell Rogers

Stormy Simon

Trista Okel 

Lori Ajax

Amy Dawn Bourlon-Hilterbran

Kim Rivers

Amanda Soens

Dona Frank

Kat King

Sara Payan

Hannah Daphna

Sandra Castaneda

Erin Gore

Wendy Kornberg

Kristin Nevedal

Wendy Turner

Parisa Rad

Brittany Nicholson

Emily Paxhia

Jessica Billingsley 

Gia Moron

Andrea Brooks

Tahira Rehmatullah

Tracey Mason

Lindy Snyder

Jasmine Rose Gunderson

Shannon Hattan

Adelia Carrillo

Karen Petersen

Wanda James

Barbara Blaser

Ophelia Chong

Amanda Ostrowitz

Pamela Nicole Epstein

Melissa Mentele

Jamie Cooper

Sarah Remesch

Jessie Gill

Erica Daniels

Lizzy Jeff

Lelehnia DuBois

Whitney Beatty

Dr. Michele Ross

Manndie Tingler

Chef Lauren Gockley

Kyra Reed

Jamie Evans

Kristin Jordan

Ellie Siegel 

Sara Brittany Somerset

Linda Marsicano

Heidi Groshelle

Amber Senter

Nique Pichette

Jennifer Price

Molly Peckler 

Bonita Money

Susan Hwang

Judy Yee

Julie Chiarello

Leah Heis

Leslie Andrachuk

Terra Carver

Nancy Whiteman

Luna Stower

Karen Paull and Wendy Robbins

Beth Stavola

Alison Gordon

Penny Green

Sara Gullickson

Dr. Lakisha Jenkins

Pamela Hadfield

Jessica Peters

Dr. Rachel Knox and Dr. Jessica Knox

Tiffany Bowden

Mary Jane Gibson

Michelle Janikian

Dr. Uma Dhanabalan

Taylor Blake

AC Braddock

Kerri Accardi

Heather Sobel

Betty Aldworth

Cathy Jordan

Suzanne Sisley

Nina Parks

Eliza Nova Maroney

Selena Xochitl Martinez

Angelika Penuela-Ruiz

Sarah Mitra Payan

Gretchen Gailey

Nikki Lastreto

Ann Lawrence

Sheena Shiravi

Christina Ianuzzi

Kassandra Frederique

Shannon Buyers

Celia Tapp

Kelly Archer

Katie Field

Randi Sether

Shannon Reed

Katrina Yolen

Ngiste Abebe

Brooke Westlake

Courtney Maltais

Katrina Tso

Anne Don0hoe

Alicia Rose Kelley

Dr. Jacqueline Harding, PhD 

Mary Pryor 

Dr. Uma Dhabalan

Olivia Mannix

Heather DeRose

Libby Cooper

Leslie Hoffman

Yvonne Perez Emerson

 

Again, thank you to all of the women who do so much in our industry day in and day out. Your work does not go unnoticed and is deeply appreciated.

Happy International Women’s Day to all women around the world!

Special shout out to our Green Market Report co-founders Debra Borchardt and Cynthia Salarizadeh on this day!


Debra BorchardtJanuary 6, 2020
hightimes-1.jpg

6min00

Hightimes Holding Corp. told investors that it accepted the resignation of Kraig G. Fox as the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and President Effective December 24, 2019. On January 6, 2020, Stormy Simon, one of the Company’s independent directors and former President of Overstock.com Inc., was appointed to the position of Chief Executive Officer of the company by the board of directors. Following her appointment, she will also continue serving as a director on the Company’s board of directors.

Stormy Simon

The change is happening as the cannabis publication prepares to develop its physical and virtual distribution businesses. Having spent the last year acquiring Cannabis media publications and web sites, High Times now looks to monetize its audience of millions of users across the globe. Fox was just hired in April with the intent to finally bring the company public, a move that has been discussed for years at this point. Instead, the launch of the publicly traded stock got delayed again. Fox’s background as a Senior Managing Director of Guggenheim Partners where he focused on Guggenheim’s overall strategy in the media and entertainment spaces as well as the management of its media and entertainment investments was seen as an asset.

Fox was also a founder and Chief Operating Officer of Core Media (previously CKX, Inc.) where he oversaw all operations of this publicly-traded company including Core’s interests in the estate of Elvis Presley and the intellectual property rights of Muhammad Ali as well oversight of its wholly-owned subsidiary, 19 Entertainment, which included American Idol (including television, records, lives tours, artist management and sponsorships) and So You Think You Can Dance. It was anticipated he would capitalize on the name brand of High Times through licensing deals.

Recently, Fox had suggested the company would pivot into consumption cafes and dispensaries and away from cannabis content. Now, it seems there is another pivot away from that idea and Fox has left.

“I’m honored to take on this role at such a pivotal time for this iconic brand. The cost of customer acquisition has plagued the cannabis industry thus far, but utilizing the High Times brand’s global audience, we should be able to monetize our traffic by connecting consumers to cannabis products at an unprecedented scale,” Stormy Simon stated. “Like millions of other people, I have trusted High Times for years and I can’t wait to use my experience to help develop the next iteration of our business: delivering the best products into consumers’ hands.”

Levin will remain in his role as Executive Chairman. He said, “Stormy Simon, who rose through the ranks at Overstock.com during her 15-year tenure with the company, has extensive international business relations and marketing experience and is highly skilled at breaking down and rebuilding departments. Stormy revolutionized Overstock.com’s marketing department, and then its customer service department, during an uncharted time in e-commerce history, eventually leading Overstock.com to increase its revenues from $20 million to over $2 Billion.”

Salary

According to the company’s filings, Ms. Simon will receive a base salary of $300,000 per year, payable in equal monthly installments, provided that the Base Salary shall initially be fixed at $215,000 and the remainder of the Base Salary shall accrue until, and be payable at, such time as the Company shall have raised an additional $10 million. In addition to the salary, Simon will get an annual bonus of up to $225,000 for each calendar year of her employment with the company depending on the High Times’ ability to achieve certain performance goals.  She will also have an option to buy 200,000 shares of common stock at an exercise price of $11.00 per share. One-third of those options vest on January 6, 2020, and the balance of such option shares vesting in equal monthly increments over the remaining two year period.

Simon will also receive a $3,000 travel stipend for company travel between San Jose and Los Angeles for the first six months of employment.

Fox will continue to receive his director and officer insurance policy, and High Times agreed to reimburse Mr. Fox for certain previously incurred business expenses (within five days) of successful completion of sales of an additional $5 million of equity securities or $10 million of proceeds from the sale of debt securities. He is expected to be reimbursed $125,000 with respect to expenses and lease payments for which Fox provided the company with receipts.

 

 

 

 

 


Get the latest cannabis news delivered right to your inbox

The Morning Rise

Unpack the industry with the daily cannabis newsletter for business leaders.

 Sign up


About Us

The Green Market Report focuses on the financial news of the rapidly growing cannabis industry. Our target approach filters out the daily noise and does a deep dive into the financial, business and economic side of the cannabis industry. Our team is cultivating the industry’s critical news into one source and providing open source insights and data analysis


READ MORE



Recent Tweets

Get the latest cannabis news delivered right to your inbox

The Morning Rise

Unpack the industry with the daily cannabis newsletter for business leaders.