#1 Chuck Rifici, Chairman & CEO at Auxly
Chuck Rifici is a pioneer of the North American cannabis industry having created and managed opportunities that have positively impacted the Canadian landscape. Â Chuck has founded and been involved in the creation of some of Canadaâs largest and most successful cannabis efforts. Â He is best known for having co-founded Canopy Growth Corporation (formerly Tweed Marijuana Inc.).
Today, Chuck is Chairman and CEO of Auxly Cannabis Group, a platform spanning the entire cannabis value-chain, minimizing risk while simultaneously maximizing exposure to multiple, geographically-diverse cannabis companies through a single source, and Founder and CEO of Nesta Holding Co., a private equity firm that creates wide ranging partnerships and brands within the cannabis industry. He is also the former Chairman of National Access Cannabis/Meta Cannabis Supply Co., a global leader in medical and recreational cannabis retail.
Chuck is a chartered professional accountant (CPA). He obtained his MBA from Queenâs University and holds a BASc in Computer Engineering from the University of Ottawa.
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How did you get involved with the Cannabis Industry?
My relationship with cannabis dates back a number of years and looking back I can pinpoint a pivotal moments that sealed the deal for me. I knew there would be a future for cannabis in the business world back in 2010, when California voters considered legalizing recreational cannabis, the ballot failed by 2%, but I realized I almost missed the boat and I vowed that I wouldnât miss that opportunity again. Â Thatâs what got me scanning for new regulatory changes in Canada, and ultimately, that gave me a head start on others. When the Harper government released the draft regulations (creating the MMPR, now ACMPR) on a Sunday, I spent the whole night reading and stopped everything I had going, so I could put all my focus into this. Â I donât think I slept a full night again for 6 months. Â
What is your biggest accomplishment to date in the Cannabis Industry?
Yeah it's a tough one, I mean there's been lots of interesting things, certainly being a Founder of Canopy, it's hard to escape that and its been positive for me and obviously they've grown to be pretty big but I think the second time is always sweeter and creating Auxly and pulling  the team I pulled together there and as we ramp up for the next wave of products with infused products, vape pens, edibles I am really excited with what we put together and the team we built and so that is what I am most proud of right now.
What are your future goals?
In the next five years looking forward  to the normalization of cannabis in Canada and the acceleration of global expansion and I guess what I mean about that is looking forward globally to the trade of cannabis where we start seeing countries being able to export large quantities of cannabis and cannabis molecules for both medical and recreational use  and really see the industry grow as we see additional countries legalize. On the path towards that I am really looking forward to the next country to legalize federally whether that is Mexico or a European country or maybe the United States, if we get an early surprise. I think once we have 3, 4, 5 countries, you know very quickly we are going to have 10 to 20, and then 40 -50. I think it's inevitable and that's the most exciting part.
Do you think that inevitable globalization of  federal legalization will put more emphasis on the Cannabis Industry partner ecosystem?
Yeah I think as the industry grows and matures the nice part is you don't have to do everything, and as a company if you try to do everything, you're not going to be good at everything,  you really can specialize to some degree and so its nice now, we see it today with oil processing licences, we have people specializing in extraction, we have people who are pure play retailers, and as the industry keeps growing it allows  businesses and entrepreneurs possibly be specialized and really go after a very specific market or market opportunity. I think it's exciting as it makes the business more accessible because you don't have to be a massive public company to get involved in the business. You can choose the piece you want to work on and there will people you can sell to and people you can buy services from to enable that business, so  I think there will be more and more opportunity that is going to get created as the industry gets bigger.
It's funny I have never really been asked that before, or at least not for a long time. Let's see, for me, I am a big fan of people like Elon Musk and entrepreneurs taking huge risks. I find inspiration from people who tackle really big ideas and try to change the world. I think the Cannabis Industry is certainly not the most important thing  in the world but doing our small part, and I think as Cannabis is Legalized in Canada and the industry grows, it allows for the dismantling of the drug war and all the negatives that can from that and so I really like that positive effect of everything we work on in the business.
Do you use Cannabis products? If yes, what are your favorite Cannabis products/brands?
I do. I like vape pens I think  it's a great product. I think it will be the largest segment in the recreational space. Although I tend not to smoke too much flower, I am really excited for what we have coming with our Robinsons product in Auxly which we know tests very well against other products from their medical product and we are really excited to unveil that to the rest of Canadians when we hopefully get our sales license for that facility later this year.
