I am checking on what is current:
Management Team
Emiliano Aloi
President and Interim CEO
Emiliano Aloi is our newly appointed President and has served as a member of our Advisory Board since January 9, 2019. Prior to joining Exactus Inc., Mr. Aloi co-founded Ceed2Med, LLC (“C2M”) in 2014 a global sourcing and distribution platform for industrial hemp and industrial hemp-derived products. From January, 2017 to November, 2017, Mr. Aloi served as Vice President and Director of Strategic Development for GenCanna Global, Inc., where he initiated a go-to-strategy, recruited the commercial leadership team, developed compliance, executed product launches, and advanced manufacturing in European markets. In 2016 Mr. Aloi achieved the first country-wide agricultural permit for flower cultivation in Uruguay. In addition, Mr. Aloi co-sponsored research programs for Stevia and Aloe Vera extraction methods from 2012 to 2013 and participated in the insertion of Chia as a novel crop in Paraguay in 2011 in a program later merged into Cargill. Mr. Aloi also co-developed the agricultural solid biofuels program for Camargo Correas Cement company, a Loma Negra subsidiary from 2009 to 2011.
Andrew Johnson
Chief Strategy Officer
Andrew L. Johnson is our newly-appointed Chief Strategy Officer and has been working with the company since January 2019 in an investor relations role. From November 2014 to November 2018, he served as Director of Investor Relations at ChromaDex Corp. (NASDAQ:CDXC), an integrated, global nutraceutical company devoted to improving the way people age. While at the company Mr. Johnson was instrumental in establishing an investor relations platform including, but not limited, to composing and disseminating corporate messaging, press releases, quarterly earnings, conference call transcripts, shareholder update letters, and marketing materials. Prior to joining ChromaDex, he held the role of Director of Outreach at Alliance Advisors, a third-party investor relations consulting firm from April 2014 to July 2014, where Mr. Johnson worked with various C-level management teams of small and micro-cap companies to increase investor awareness through the facilitation and attendance of non-deal roadshows, investment conferences, group meetings, and one-on-one meetings with institutional investors. From September 2011 to January 2013 he worked at Sidoti & Company, an institutional equity research firm, where sat on the sales desk. During his time the firm, he built relationships, presented investment ideas, and provided equity research, including corporate access to over 750 small and mid-cap companies. Mr. Johnson has over 10 years of experience communicating with investors and has held the Series 3, 7, and 63 licenses in the past. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Sciences from Washington State University.
Brian Podolak
Vice President of Sales and Marketing
Mr. Podolak has for the past two years worked at a global cannabis and CBD company where he developed sales and marketing strategies, and has over 20 years of internet marketing and sales team leadership experience. His accomplishments include establishing a large online marketing organization focused on pharmacy sales that reached $55 million in annual sales and a successful call center which employed over 300 employees.
Kenneth E. Puzder
Chief Financial Officer and Director
Kenneth E. Puzder serves as Chief Financial Officer of C2M. In addition, from December of 2014 to the present, he has served as the co-founder, Managing Member, and CFO of the Lukens Group, LLC, a behavioral therapy firm that focuses on a variety of behavioral struggles including alcoholism, drug abuse, depression and anxiety with a special emphasis on PTSD. Previously, from January of 2007 to December of 2017, Mr. Puzder was president of his own consulting firm, Kenneth E. Puzder Consulting. As a seasoned financial executive, Mr. Puzder specialized in debtor side representations in financial leadership, mergers and acquisitions, restructuring and turnaround, and personal and partnership tax returns. From July of 2003 through December of 2006, he served in various positions with the Arby’s Restaurant Group (“ARG”) family of companies, including as Chief Financial Officer of AFA Service Corporation (a sister company to ARG), VP for Accounting and Finance or Arby’s Restaurant Group, Inc., and Regional Controller or RTM, Inc. (a subsidiary of ARG). From August of 2000 through April of 2003, Mr. Puzder was with Panera Bread Company. From January of 1999 through August of 2000, he served as Vice President and Secretary of the Linder Funds, a series of mutual funds. Prior to serving that position, from March of 1998 through August of 2000, he was Financial Operations Principal and Assistant Secretary of Lindner Asset Management, the asset management firm for the Linder Funds. From February of 1996 until March of 1998, he was an audit manager with KPMG Peat Marwick, LLP, a Big 4 accounting firm. From June of 1990 through February of 1996, Mr. Puzder was with Mills Group, Inc., serving as its Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of Mills Group, Inc. from July 1991 to February 1996.
Mr. Puzder holds a B.S. in Accounting from the University of Missouri, St. Louis and is a Certified Public Accountant in the state of Missouri.
