Namaste Announces 2018 Board of Director Nominees
VANCOUVER, B.C., March 01, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Namaste Technologies Inc. (“Namaste” or the “Company”) (CSE:N) (FRA:M5BQ) (OTCMKTS:NXTTF) is pleased to announce that the Company has nominated Branden Spikes, Laurens Feenstra and Donald William Nickless (the “Nominees”) for positions on Namaste’s 2018 board of directors, in addition to current board members Sean Dollinger, Sefi Dollinger and Kiranjit Sidhu. These three new Nominees represent a major milestone for Namaste in solidifying the board and supporting the Company’s future growth within the cannabis industry. The Nominees and proposed board members have served in critical roles at Google, SpaceX and Seagram’s International, and bring an intangible amount of value in helping advance the Company’s technology through innovation. The Nominees bios and experience are outlined below:
Laurens Feenstra – Laurens Feenstra is currently Product Manager at Waymo, formerly known as Google’s self-driving car project. Prior to Waymo, he worked on some of Google’s most well-known products such as Search, Chromebooks, and Android. As a strategy consultant at McKinsey & Company, he has helped large media, banking and government clients become data analytics-driven companies. Mr. Feenstra holds degrees in Human-Computer Interaction and Artificial Intelligence from University of Groningen in the Netherlands and was a visiting researcher on “Intelligent Turtoring Systems” at Carnegie Mellon University.
When not working on the latest technology, he organizes small electronic music festivals and runs a Burning Man camp.
Branden Spikes – Branden Spikes, considered as “Elon Musk’s most trusted lieutenant” by Venture Beat, worked side by side with Musk for over 15 years and helped pioneer ground breaking technologies at SpaceX, Tesla, and PayPal. He was the CIO of SpaceX for ten years and was instrumental in setting up the information systems at Tesla Motors during its formative years after having served as Director of IT at PayPal. Spikes then founded Spikes Security in 2012, with a mission to solve the most pressing cybersecurity challenge, browser malware and served as its CEO until it merged with Aurionpro in 2017. Mr. Spikes is an investor, advisor and a technology evangelist.
Donald William Nickless – Mr. Nickless graduated from Macdonald College of McGill University with a BSc in Agriculture. Mr. Nickless then worked for thirty plus years working for the Seagram Company Limited, beginning as a front-line supervisor in manufacturing, progressing through various Department Head positions to the manager of the Company’s largest Canadian plant. Subsequent, Mr. Nickless held various positions that culminated in the appointment to Executive Vice President of Manufacturing, SeagramAmericas with responsibility for Manufacturing Operations in the US, Canada, and South America. Mr. Nickless is now retired and living in Vermont as a “Gentleman Farmer”.
In connection with these nominations, Peter Simeon and Philip van den Berg will not be standing for re-election at the Annual General Meeting.
We would also like to thank Peter Simeon and Philip van den Berg for serving on the Board. Peter will continue to serve as legal counsel and corporate secretary to the Company and Philip will continue to serve as Chief Financial Officer.
Management Commentary
From the outset, Namaste has been focused on revolutionizing the cannabis industry through innovation. These Nominees represent an incredible opportunity for Namaste to not only strengthen the team but to significantly broaden the scope of our vision to revolutionize the industry. The combined experience and knowledge these individuals possess cannot be measured and we feel extremely privileged to have them willing to join our team and contribute significantly to the future direction of Namaste.
Sean Dollinger, President and CEO of Namaste
Our entire team remains focused in our efforts and is committed in helping to redefine the industry. We strongly believe these Nominees will help drive future growth opportunities and help solidify Namaste as a global leader in the development of cannabis technology solutions.
About Namaste Technologies Inc.
Namaste is the largest online retailer for medical cannabis delivery systems globally. Namaste distributes vaporizers and smoking accessories through 24 e-commerce sites in 20 countries and with distribution hubs located around the world. Namaste has majority market share in Europe and Australia, with operations in the UK, Canada and Germany and has opened new supply channels into emerging markets including Brazil, Mexico and Chile. Namaste, through its acquisition of Cannmart Inc., a Canadian based late-stage applicant for a medical cannabis distribution license (under the ACMPR Program) is pursuing a new revenue vertical in online retail of medical cannabis in the Canadian market. Namaste intends to leverage its existing database of Canadian medical cannabis consumers, along with its expertise in e-commerce to create an online marketplace for medical cannabis patients, offering a larger variety of product and a better user experience.
