Vext Science, Inc. (“Vext” or the “Company”) (CSE: VEXT) (OTCQX: VEXTF), a cannabinoid brand leader based in Arizona, leveraging its core expertise in extraction, manufacturing, cultivation and marketing to build a profitable multi-state footprint, today announced that Mark W. Opzoomer, a highly experienced global executive and director, has been appointed to the Company’s board of directors effective immediately. Mr. Opzoomer is currently Managing Director at Bond Capital Partners, a mid-market private equity investor and advisory firm, which he founded in 2004. Mr. Opzoomer is also currently Chairman of Trint Limited (SaaS AI media creation workflow platform) and a director of the Mark’ennovy group (R&D driven custom contact lens maker and marketer). Mark recently stepped down as Chairman of Somo Global Ltd in January on the successful sale to CI&T Inc, both leaders in digital transformation services. Mark served 12 years on the board of Entertainment One Ltd. before its $3.8bn acquisition by Hasbro Inc in December 2019, latterly as Senior Independent Director, and included three-year periods as Chair of each of the Audit Committee and Remuneration Committee.
Management Commentary
Thai Nguyen, Executive Chairman of Vext commented, “As Vext continues to generate profitable growth in Arizona, and begins to further expand its footprint, having the right expertise at the board level will be critical for the Company’s future success. Mark brings a proven long-term track record at both the senior management and board levels, with deep experience directing growth and successful M&A strategies. On behalf of management and the board, I would like to welcome Mark to Vext and express that we look forward to his valuable contributions.”
Mark Opzoomer added, “The U.S. cannabis industry is still in its early stages of growth and fragmented, both of which offer significant opportunities. I am pleased to join the board of Vext, a profitable, growing business, with a proven management team and a clear focused strategy for profitable expansion. I look forward to contributing to this strategic development, capital allocation, performance assessment and governance on the board of directors.”
Mark W. Opzoomer – Background
Mr. Opzoomer is an experienced public company director and committee chair. Mr. Opzoomer was the only director to serve the full 12 years of Entertainment One Ltd.’s life as a listed company before its sale to Hasbro Inc. This included the roles of senior independent director and chairs of the remuneration, audit and special committees. Previous directorships and audit committee chairs include RhythmOne plc, Autonomy Corporation plc, Rambler Media Limited along with Miva Inc and Hodder Headline plc. Previously, he was a non-executive director of Web Reservations International Limited and Newbay Limited, and an adviser to Forward Internet Group, playing a key role in both its acquisition and subsequent disposal of uSwitch at a significant profit.
Mr. Opzoomer is also an active adviser to private companies either directly or through Bond Capital Partners which he founded in 2004. Bond is focused on mentoring & growth capital for overlooked lower mid-market companies. He is currently lead independent director at Trint Limited, the lead independent director of the Mark’ennovy group, recently Chairman of Somo Global, a board adviser to Howsy. At Rambler Media, a leading Russian internet services and media company, Mr. Opzoomer stepped from a board role into an interim chief executive role to restructure, accelerate growth, profitability, and cash flow, and created several key international partnerships.
Mr. Opzoomer was the European Managing Director & Regional Vice-President of Yahoo! Europe 2001 through 2003 which included direct responsibility for 8 countries and 400 staff. Prior to this he was an executive of the mobile marketing services business at Talkcast plc, which was acquired by Xtempus Limited, where he became interim chairman. Mr. Opzoomer was Deputy Chief Executive of Hodder Headline PLC from 1994 through 1999, an international consumer and educational book publishing company listed on the London Stock Exchange. He was very involved in the sale of Hodder Headline plc to WHSmith Group PLC in 1999 for a substantial premium. In 1988 Mr. Opzoomer joined the Virgin Group as Commercial Director of Virgin Communications to assist with the Virgin Group buy-out off the London Stock Exchange and refinance Virgin Communications as an independent entity. These activities involved both significant operational and mergers and acquisitions work. During this period, he acquired the Mastertronic Group, which was merged into Virgin Games to form the Virgin Mastertronic Group. This business established the distribution of Sega consumer products in Europe and was sold to Sega Enterprises in 1991. Mark was a key member of the continuing management team that grew this business, Sega Europe, to approximately $1 billion sales across Europe in 1993.
Mark qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PwC (Coopers & Lybrand) in 1981, where he spent 7 years in audit and business investigation services. Mark holds an MBA from IMD, Lausanne, Switzerland, 1987, and earned a Bachelor of Commerce, Honours, from Queen’s University, Ontario, Canada, 1979. Mark is a life member of the WPO/YPO global network. Mark holds British and Canadian passports.
