I build consumer brands — and lead the organizations that scale them through growth, transformation and strategic change.
I've spent twenty-seven years building consumer businesses — mostly by turning one good location into a system other people would fund.
WATCH IT! was the first. One store in 1999, and eventually a national specialty retail chain. I built the brand, the merchandising, the store experience and the franchise system, and I learned the business one location at a time. That took eighteen years.
Spiritleaf followed, in a category with no operating precedent in Canada. Concept to more than a hundred locations in four years, and the country's largest recreational cannabis retail brand. The franchise model worked because the unit economics gave partners the confidence to invest. We took the company public and sold it for $131 million.
Most recently I founded and led a public company in industrial hemp and agricultural carbon. When conditions changed, I chose to stay and do the work: restructured the balance sheet, wound down legacy operations, renewed the board and governance, and rebuilt the entity as Next Phase Ventures Ltd. (TSXV: NPV). It was the harder path, and the right one for shareholders.
What I take from all of it: I create the greatest value building consumer brands and the organizations around them — setting a clear plan, hiring people who are better than me at their part of it, and executing with discipline through both growth and difficulty. Expansion taught me how to build. The last few years taught me how to decide. I'd like to put both to work in one company for the next decade.
Founded Trail Blazing Ventures Ltd. as a capital pool company and raised the capital required to complete the go-public process. Led its qualifying transaction with Hempalta Corp. in March 2024, and the company's subsequent evolution into Next Phase Ventures Ltd. As conditions changed, chose to stay and lead a full corporate reset — restructuring capital, rationalizing debt, winding down legacy operations, renewing the board and governance, and rebuilding the entity as a clean listed platform.
Created and scaled Canada's largest recreational cannabis retail network in a category with no operating precedent — no playbook, no comparables, a regulatory regime being written in real time. Built the franchise model and unit economics that partners funded, took the company public, and led it to a $131 million acquisition.
Grew a single store into a national specialty retail chain in premium watches, sunglasses and accessories. Created the brand, built the merchandising and store experience that defined it, and developed the franchise system that sustained two decades of growth — the operating foundation for everything that followed.
Boards bring me in when something is about to change: growth arriving faster than the business can absorb, a franchise system that has stalled, a strategy that has stopped working, or a company being readied for sale. I am most useful early, before the options narrow. Here is what I am looking for, plainly.
Brands customers choose on purpose — and pay more for.
One good location turned into a system others will fund.
Moves early, decides without full information, owns what follows.
Financing, disclosure and boards, from the seat that answers.
Positions a business to be bought well — and closes it.
Hires executives who outgrow their titles — and keeps them.
Every business I've built came down to the same two things: a brand people trust and a team that tells me the truth.
Trust is the whole asset — customers give it slowly and take it back quickly, and so do employees, franchise partners and shareholders. I lead plainly and give good people room to decide. The best teams I've had believed in the plan and were willing to build it.
Between executive mandates, I selectively advise a small number of founders, CEOs and boards.
Next Phase Advisory is my personal advisory platform, not a firm and not a business I am building. A handful of engagements at a time, with people navigating growth, transformation or a strategic decision. It keeps me close to good operators and honest about what is actually working right now.
If you're running a search — or you know the company before there's a search — I'd like to hear about it.
I reply to every direct message personally. References, full board history and financial detail available on request.