Leadership
David Hart joined The Cannabist Company in 2016 and became Chief Operating Officer in 2018 and Chief Executive Officer in 2024. Prior to joining The Cannabist Company, David served as Chief Operating Officer of Abyrx, a venture capital-backed medical device company that developed, manufactured and commercialized a portfolio of intraoperative cross specialty hemostats. Prior to his time at Abyrx, David was Chief Financial Officer and Chief Investment Officer at Alpine Capital, a family investment office for the Ranawat Orthopedic Group at the Hospital for Special Surgery, where he was responsible for capital allocations, direct private investments and all healthcare investments. David was formerly Partner and Head of Healthcare Equity Investments at Apelles Investment Management. David started his career in the financial services industry in the Mergers and Acquisitions groups at Thomas Weisel Partners and Duff & Phelps. David has an MBA from Columbia University and is a graduate of Duke University, where he was a member of the Men’s Varsity Golf Team.
Jesse Channon joined The Cannabist Company in December 2019 as Chief Growth Officer. Jesse is an accomplished leader with over a decade of experience in digital marketing, consumer targeting, grassroots campaigns and social media, having advised and worked with some of the largest brands and agencies in the world, including Microsoft, AT&T, Honda, Starbucks, NBC, Red Bull and more. A member of the founding team at PageLever, a Y Combinator-backed company, Jesse oversaw all revenue and partnerships, working with companies such as YouTube, Intel and Toyota to build one of the first real-time applications on Facebook’s API and earning certification in the first wave of Preferred Marketing Developers. In 2013, PageLever sold to Unified, a New York City-based Ad Tech company, where Jesse spent six years on the senior management team. After Unified, Jesse served as Chief Revenue Officer for Social Native, a custom content marketplace. He serves on the Entrepreneurship Advisory Board for the Harbert School of Business at Auburn University, the Marketing Board for UJA in New York City and mentors first-time founders of early stage startups.
Derek Watson joined The Cannabist Company in 2022 as Chief Financial Officer. Prior to joining The Cannabist Company, Derek served as the Chief Financial and Commercial Officer at Tastes on the Fly, a private equity-backed national consumer retail company based in California. He has also held Chief Financial Officer roles at two other consumer companies, Starr Restaurants and Samba Brands, and as Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at Schindler Elevator, the U.S. subsidiary of Schindler Holding AG (SCHN.SW). Derek began his career at KPMG where he spent 20 years providing audit and consulting services, including as a Partner and Practice Leader, and served private and Fortune 500 companies across a variety of industries while based in London, Prague, New York, and Philadelphia. He has experience in a range of leadership roles covering strategy, investor relations, information technology, tax, treasury, accounting, FP&A, operational improvement, and risk management. Derek is a Fellow at the Culinary Institute of America, a Board Member with the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Garden in New York and has served as a Board Advisor to a number of entrepreneurial start-ups. Derek is a Chartered Accountant with the ICAEW, holds an undergraduate degree in Finance & Accounting from Kingston University, London and an MBA from Columbia University.
David Sirolly joined The Cannabist Company in 2021 as Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel. Prior to joining The Cannabist Company, David served as General Counsel, Corporate and Chief Compliance Officer of Integra LifeSciences Corporation, a publicly-traded global medical technology company. Over his 11-year career at Integra, he held a variety of legal and compliance leadership roles which included accountability for corporate governance, securities laws, finance initiatives, healthcare compliance, employment law, litigation as well as legal support for a commercial division and information technology. Prior to Integra, David was Assistant General Counsel of ValueClick, Inc. (now Conversant, Inc.), a publicly-traded digital media company. David began his legal career at the international law firm of Hogan & Hartson LLP (now Hogan Lovells) based in Washington DC. At Hogan, he focused on supporting medical device and pharmaceutical manufacturers on complex legal and regulatory matters. David also spent several years at a leading regional law firm in Pennsylvania working on civil and administrative litigation. David has a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law and a degree in economics from Duke University.
Bryan Olson joined The Cannabist Company as Chief Human Capital Officer in 2017. In 2020 Mr. Olson's role was expanded and he was appointed Chief People and Administrative Officer. In 2021, he was also appointed Chief Compliance Officer. Prior to joining The Cannabist Company, Mr. Olson was the Chief Human Resource Officer for global law firm K&L Gates and previously held senior HR executive positions at Aetna and United Technologies Corporation. Mr. Olson is a former practicing employee benefits and executive compensation attorney at Skadden Arps and started his career at Fidelity Investments.