Canadian cannabis retailer Fire & Flower Holdings Corp. (TSE: FAF) (OTCMKTS: FFLWF) announced Thursday that Stéphane Trudel has been appointed as the company’s chief executive officer, effective immediately.
The shift occurred following the resignation of Fire & Flower CEO Trevor Fencott, who had held the position since 2018. Fencott also resigned as the company’s board of directors.
Trudel had previously served as senior vice president of operations for Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. (ACT) (TSE: ATD) (OTCMKTS: ANCTF), a Quebec-based convenience store operator that owns approximately 20 per cent of Fire & Flower’s shares, since 2018.
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“Over the past four years we built Fire & Flower from the ground-up into one of the world’s largest licensed cannabis retailers, powered by our unique Hifyre retail and consumer technology platform,” Fencott said in a statement.
“Now that the foundations have been built and tested, it is time for the company to really scale its model and operations. Having worked closely with Stéphane over the past three years, I believe he is absolutely the right person to lead the company into this next exciting phase of its growth.”
Trudel was initially appointed as a director of Fire & Flower in June 2020 and served as a member of the audit committee and corporate governance and compensation committee of the company’s board of directors prior to his appointment as CEO.
“We are excited to welcome Stéphane as our new chief executive officer”, said Donald Wright, chair of Fire & Flower’s board of directors. “Stéphane is a seasoned executive with extensive experience in the retail sector that we believe will be invaluable to the company as we embark on our next phase of growth as a leader in technology-driven cannabis retail.”
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Before taking on his role with Alimentation Couche-Tard, Trudel served as senior vice president of growth and strategy at CST Brands, Inc., an international convenience retailer acquired by ACT in 2017.
“In Canada, the company continues to innovate and build market share and we plan to increase our focus on international opportunities to further accelerate our growth, while further leveraging our strategic partnership with ACT,” Trudel said. “I would also like to thank Trevor whose dedication helped lead Fire & Flower to the forefront of our industry.”
Company stock was up more than 5 per cent Thursday, trading at $3.68 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
ryan@mugglehead.com
