Cannabis Lifestyle Brand Old Pal Hires New Top Executive Leaders
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 29, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Los Angeles-based lifestyle brand, Old Pal has added three top executive leaders to its list of best in class new hires as they continue to position the company for unprecedented growth in 2019. Allison Pankow has been named VP of Marketing, Mike Flynn joins as VP of Operations and Joe Franciskovich is Old Pal's new Chief Financial Officer.
Ms. Pankow joins the Old Pal team with a diverse background in advertising and marketing, having spent time on the agency side as well as brand. Her career started in Minneapolis, most notably working for Target HQ on their digital marketing team where she gained valuable experience in the workings of a national fortune 500 retail brand. Her agency career was spent at two of the world's most disruptive agencies, Anomaly and R/GA in New York and Los Angeles. At both, she was managing multimillion-dollar global ad campaigns for an impressive client list including Converse, Beats by Dre, Verizon, Marriott Hotels and SquareSpace.
Ms. Pankow joins the team most recently from MedMen, the cannabis investment and management firm that completed a minority investment with Old Pal in Fall 2018. There she quickly gained invaluable experience in the cannabis space learning the overall landscape and nuances of the rapidly evolving, heavily regulated industry. While at MedMen she managed multimillion-dollar campaigns offering strong strategic leadership to effectively navigate and execute some of the first 360 campaigns of that magnitude the cannabis industry has seen. She was also involved with MedMen's first product launch, Statemade, helping lead the marketing and creative efforts of brand strategy and positioning translating that through packaging design and marketing execution.
Mr. Flynn brings over twenty years of international food and beverage distribution experience to Old Pal. During his tenure at PepsiCo/Yum! Brands he helped launch the Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut brands around the world by building complex local supply chains and global trade channels. His diverse roles of increasing responsibility include quality assurance, product development, supply chain management, purchasing, engineering and operations.
As soon as cannabis was legal in California, Flynn pivoted to the rapidly growing industry and leveraged all of his corporate technical and general management experience to succeed in a consulting COO role at a nascent cannabis aggregator, grower, canner, distributor business in Monterey County. He had significant and immediate impact by increasing daily canning rates by over 400%; implementing an employee piece-rate incentive program, creating job descriptions for all roles, transitioning payroll from cash to direct deposit and implementing Quality, GMP and testing programs.
Joe Franciskovich joins Old Pal, as CFO, from Live Nation Entertainment where he served as Deputy CFO to Live Nation's ticketing business, Ticketmaster. Prior to joining Ticketmaster, Joe was a director and investment lead for Steel Partners, LP where he managed the firm's investments in oil & gas, aerospace & defense, entertainment, and cannabis. Prior to Steel, Franciskovich's professional experience includes private equity roles with Platinum Equity, investment-banking roles with Citigroup, and five years active duty as an officer in the US Air Force.
Franciskovich brings with him to Old Pal a wealth of experience in navigating venture capital and M&A landscapes, hands-on knowledge of best practices in operational finance, and a leadership presence that sets high expectations for the young team.
"Old Pal's success starts with the notion of team," added Old Pal Co-Founder, Jason Osni. "Our vision has always been to create a community where people from different industries can come together, challenge and inspire one another. That is when monumental things happen."
ABOUT OLD PAL:
Old Pal is a lifestyle cannabis company focused on the value-oriented segment of the market. Through strategic partnerships within the trade, the brand has secured high quality, dependable production and distribution. With the incorporation of culture-focused design and marketing, Old Pal has defined a much-needed new space within the industry; a space curating an accessible lifestyle beyond stoner culture.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Dustin Beatty
Director of PR
Email: [email protected]
(714) 496-6864
SOURCE Old Pal
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