News

Renee Merrifield among Valens board nominees

Published on May 21, 2020 by oz. staff

A former Okanagan Conservative hopeful is among three new independent nominees to the board of Kelowna-based cannabis extraction company, Valens.

Renee Merrifield, who lost the Kelowna-Lake Country Conservative nomination to current MP Tracy Gray, will stand for election to The Valens Company’s board of directors at the June 12 annual shareholder meeting.

Merrifield is well-known as a prolific developer and CEO at Troika Management Corp., which she founded 20 years ago.

Also nominated are:

• Karin A. McCaskill, who is former SVP, general counsel, and corporate secretary of Empire Company Limited and Sobeys Inc.
• Andrew Cockwell, managing partner and co-founder of Ursataur Capital Management.

Valens says it’s continuing to strengthen its corporate governance policies to support its growth, including proposing changes to the board to allow for more independent advisory.

Two current directors, Chris Irwin and Chris Buysen won’t stand for re-election. Pending election of the three nominees and re-election of the existing four directors, the board will expand to seven directors, six of which are independent of Valens.

“The combined expertise of these highly accomplished individuals will help us continue with our initiatives to strengthen existing corporate governance policies and provide advice on various legal, financial, and administrative processes,” says Tyler Robson, CEO of Valens.

The company also announced Cockwell purchased 847,000 common shares of Valens at a price of $2.36 per share “from certain members of management of Valens who reluctantly had to sell a portion of their common shares to cover related taxes owing.”

Valens president Jeff Fallows added:

“The simultaneous block trades were a one-time event and determined to be the best course of action for all parties involved when considering the financial implications around personal tax payments owing.”