Veteran Executive with Experience Transforming the HR Functions of Leading Global Organizations Joins KushCo’s Executive Leadership Team
CYPRESS, CA / ACCESSWIRE / November 21, 2019 / KushCo Holdings, Inc. (OTCQX:KSHB) (“KushCo” or the “Company”), the premier producer of ancillary products and services to the legal cannabis and CBD industries, today announced that it has appointed Rhiana Barr as the Company’s Chief People Officer. This new position was created to build and scale a “best place to work” culture and to enhance the Company’s organizational capability and effectiveness as KushCo’s business, workforce, and culture continue to grow and evolve.
Barr brings nearly two decades of human resources (HR) experience to KushCo, having worked in a variety of roles across a diverse set of leading, global organizations, where she led and implemented human resource and organizational effectiveness strategies to drive business results. Her expertise encompasses full scale recruiting, talent development, and people operations experience. Barr previously served as the Head of HR Business Partners and Talent Acquisition at Cetera Financial Group and as a member of its human resources leadership team, where she managed the business partner function across the organization to support managers and leaders. In addition, she oversaw and managed the talent acquisition team, and was responsible for the ongoing transformation of Cetera’s hiring strategy to attract and retain top talent for the organization while in a stage of hyper growth. Prior to Cetera, Barr served as the Director of Human Resources at Clearwater Paper Corporation, where she transformed the human resources function and was an integral leader on various M&A and synergy initiatives. Barr also spent nearly five years at Nestle USA, where she focused on multi-million-dollar reorganization initiatives, championed change management programs, built talent strategies, created a diversity and inclusion roadmap and cultivated various compensation programs.
As KushCo’s Chief People Officer, Barr will lead the Company’s human resources team and will manage all aspects of human resources, including compensation, benefits, recruiting, training, employee relations, payroll, talent management, and HR technology. In addition, Barr will interface extensively with the leadership team on all talent- and HR-related activities to help prepare and scale the organization through the next phase of organic and inorganic growth. These activities include defining, developing, and implementing talent management and learning solutions; building a regular talent review process; developing a diversity and inclusion strategy; advising on all human capital initiatives; and leading and executing an appropriate market competitive total reward strategy that enables KushCo to hire, develop, retain, and reward the talent required to meet and exceed strategic, financial, and operational objectives.
KushCo has always been a top destination for bright, driven and talented individuals looking to create value in a rapidly growing organization within a rapidly growing and emerging industry.
Nick Kovacevich, KushCo’s Co-founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairman
Our desire to create an entirely new role to attract, manage, and nurture our greatest asset-the KushCo family-has been a top priority for us for many months now, which is why we took the time to ensure we bring in the right individual who can make a meaningful impact from day one, especially at a time where we and the broader cannabis and CBD sector have pulled back on our headcount growth in order to build a pathway toward achieving sustainable profitability.
He also added, “Rhiana has developed a stellar track record during her career, having worked in a wide variety of leadership roles at high-profile organizations, including Nestle, where she was instrumental in implementing programs to groom high-performing leaders and employees, while establishing the proper training, incentives, and upward mobility to enable transformation both at a personal and company-wide level. At KushCo, we will be looking to leverage those experiences, guidance and insights, particularly as we embrace the ethos of gaining more from less and leveraging the collective strengths of our current KushCo family. In fact, as our fiscal 2020 revenue guidance suggests, we are still expecting significant growth compared to fiscal 2019-however, we are looking to achieve that growth in a more efficient and profitable manner. Together, with Rhiana’s help, we can more effectively develop our workforce, streamline operations, reduce costs, and enhance our organization, putting us in an even stronger position to drive sustainable, disciplined, and profitable growth.”
Barr has experience in a variety of industries, including financial services, consumer products, manufacturing, and home building. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in business administration at DeVry University and received her Masters of Business Administration (MBA) at The University of Phoenix.
I am energized to join KushCo’s strong, entrepreneurial, and innovation-driven team and culture. The adaptability of this organization is remarkable, especially its ability to overcome new challenges as they arise, which is paramount in the cannabis and CBD industries. As one of the early pioneers in the sector, the Company has done a successful job attracting and retaining talented individuals who believe in a mission bigger than themselves and who have often taken great sacrifices to elevate KushCo to where it is today.
Rhiana Barr as the Company’s Chief People Officer
I recognize that each industry has its own challenges to learn and address, but I am encouraged by the solid team we have now and the broader KushCo vision of powering the global cannabis and CBD ecosystem. I look forward to being a champion for our people and building a stellar culture, while leading this remarkable team through its next phase of growth and employee-led innovation as we continue to generate increasing value for our customers, partners and shareholders.
About KushCo Holdings, Inc.
KushCo Holdings, Inc. (OTCQX: KSHB) (www.kushco.com) is the premier producer of ancillary products and services to the legal cannabis and CBD industries. KushCo Holdings’ subsidiaries and brands provide product quality, exceptional customer service, compliance knowledge and a local presence in serving its diverse customer base.
Founded in 2010, KushCo Holdings has now sold more than 1 billion units to growers, processors and producers across North America, South America, and Europe.
The Company has been featured in media nationwide, including CNBC, Fox News, Yahoo Finance, Cheddar, Los Angeles Times, TheStreet.com, and Entrepreneur, Inc Magazine. While KushCo Holdings provides products and solutions to customers in the cannabis and CBD industries, it has no direct involvement with the cannabis plant or any products that contain THC.
For more information, visit www.kushco.com or call (888)-920-5874.
