Cannabis company TerrAscend recruits legal chief

North American cannabis company TerrAscend Corp, which is listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange, has appointed Lynn Gefen as chief legal officer and corporate secretary, effective May 23.

Gefen is joining TerrAscend from home repair company HomeServe, where she has been deputy general counsel, chief risk and compliance officer and assistant secretary for the past eight years, according to her LinkedIn profile. Before joining HomeServe, she worked at alcoholic beverage company Diageo North America on regulatory, privacy and compliance matters.

Previously, she was associate general counsel, chief compliance officer and assistant secretary for Citrix Systems, where she led a team with global responsibility for corporate and compliance matters including governance, securities, commercial transactions, litigation and employment. Gefen began her legal career as an associate at law firms Thacher Proffitt & Wood and Holland & Knight.

TerrAscend has vertically integrated operations in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Michigan and California, licensed cultivation and processing operations in Maryland and licensed production in Canada.

Executive chair Jason Wild says in a statement: ‘With her extensive experience in high-growth, highly regulated industries, Lynn is the ideal person to lead our legal team. We are thrilled to welcome Lynn to the team and look forward to leveraging her insights and expertise as we continue to expand and scale our footprint in some of the most attractive cannabis markets in the country.’