Maryland's best-known cannabis brand, CULTA, welcomes Allison Siegel as its new chief operating officer (COO). Prior to joining CULTA, Siegel was president at Next Day Blinds, a Maryland-based, direct-to-consumer business with more than 400 employees. She has over 20 years of professional experience, 10 of which were spent as an IT & Marketing Executive at Total Wine & More.

"Wine, and the alcoholic beverage industry in general, have a lot of similarities to the cannabis industry, especially in regards to intense regulation, taxing, and brand development," said Siegel. "I look forward to leveraging my experience in the wine industry at CULTA and am excited to join a growing company in the cannabis vertical."

As president at Next Day Blinds, she ran the day-to-day business operations until the company was acquired in a strategic sale. She acted as chief revenue officer at Next Day Blinds before becoming president. While with the company, her team significantly improved top- and bottom-line financial results, implemented a full technology replacement, and increased its gross margin, all while improving annual employee engagement scores.

Prior to Next Day Blinds, Siegel built and ran Total Wine & More's IT applications and business process teams, and spent her final three years building a CRM system, a loyalty program, and a consumer insights group within the company's marketing vertical.

As COO at CULTA, Siegel will play a key role in supporting CULTA's rapid growth and expansion, implementing strategic financial and operational processes, and overseeing day-to-day operations.

"Ms. Siegel will play a key role in facilitating CULTA's continued growth," said CULTA President and co-founder Mackie Barch. "Single-state focused, independent operators, are dominating most cannabis markets nationally and we're starting to attract real talent. We are thrilled Ms. Siegel is joining the CULTA team and look forward to working with her to take the CULTA brand to the next level."

CULTA's latest executive hire continues their trend of seeking top-tier C-suite candidates with deep expertise outside of the cannabis industry. Recent team additions include Jonathan Clark as chief financial officer, who joined CULTA from Honest Tea, who was acquired by Coca-Cola and CAVA Group, Inc.

CULTA's strategic growth plan calls for hiring 100 more employees across its farm in Cambridge, retail dispensary in Baltimore, and headquarters in Bethesda. Open positions are listed here. At this time, CULTA plans on recruiting all new employees in-house.

ABOUT CULTA

Born in 2015, CULTA is Maryland's premier craft quality producer of cannabis flower and cannabis extracts. We are proud and passionate cultivators, scientists, activists, musicians, and global citizens. We believe in the power of cannabis to heal and for cannabis to be the catalyst to a long-overdue conversation on ending the war on drugs. For many who have quietly battled chronic conditions with cannabis, it is more than a plant, it's lifesaving medicine and a lifestyle. To learn more, please visit www.Culta.io.