Board of Directors

Abner Kurtin is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Ascend Wellness Holdings (AWH) and the Portfolio Manager for JM10 Partners Fund. Established in 2018, JM10 Partners operates two private equity funds that invest growth capital into the cannabis industry. Mr. Kurtin has been managing opportunity capital for over 20 years. Prior to AWH, he was the founder of K Capital Partners a multibillion dollar hedge fund and Ca2 Group a high end real estate development firm in Massachusetts. He started his career at The Baupost Group and served as a member of the Presidents Council of Massachusetts General Hospital and Chairman of the Hill House. Mr. Kurtin graduated from Harvard Business School and completed his BA at Tufts University.

Frank Perullo is President & Co-Founder of AWH. Mr. Perullo is also Founder of Novus Group and Sage Systems, one of the leading providers of web-based campaign management software, which he founded in 2002. Sage’s ListManager tool empowered thousands of campaigns across the country to make data driven micro-targeting decisions, giving clients the edge they needed to achieve victory.

Scott Swid is the General Partner and Managing Member of VROOM E Holdings and SLS Management. Prior to starting SLS in 1999, Mr. Swid was a Senior Portfolio Manager at Kingdon Capital and an Analyst at Perry Capital. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Mr. Swid is also a member of the Advisory Council for Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Henry Street Settlement. Mr. Swid received an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in History from Stanford University.

Emily Paxhia is a co-founder and Managing Partner of Poseidon. Ms. Paxhia has been actively investing in the cannabis industry since January 2014. She has reviewed thousands of companies and has worked with countless founders in multiple capacities. She has helped to shape founders’ pitch preparations, their go-to-market strategies/ product launches, and advised on day-to-day business operations. Ms. Paxhia has held board seats for multiple portfolio companies and participates as an adviser to multiple teams.

Extremely active in the investment decision making and ongoing investment oversight processes, she works closely with her partners to create meaningful deal structures, ensuring that proper governance is carried out at the company level. Further, Ms. Paxhia has dedicated time and energy to supporting policy groups and has served on the Board of Directors of the Marijuana Policy Project. She also currently serves on the Board of Athletes for CARE.

Ms. Paxhia graduated from New York University with an M.A. in Psychology in 2008. She graduated from Skidmore College with a B.A. in Psychology in 2002.

Joe Hinrichs is currently Chairman of the Board of Exide Technologies, Senior Advisor at Boyden, Operating Advisor at Assembly Ventures, Strategic Advisor at MicroDrive, and a Member of the Board of Directors at WaveSense.  From May 2019 to March 2020, Mr. Hinrichs served as President, Automotive, at Ford Motor Company.  Prior to serving in this capacity, he served as President, Global Operations for two years.  He also was President, The Americas, from late 2012 to May, 2017 and President, Asia Pacific and Africa, from December 2009 to December, 2012.  Mr. Hinrichs served in various other leadership roles at Ford from December 2000 to December 2009, including the head of Global Manufacturing & Labor Affairs and President & CEO of Ford Canada. Prior to joining Ford, he was a partner and senior vice president of Ryan Enterprises Group, a manufacturing investment group in Chicago. Earlier in his career, he spent 10 years at General Motors in various positions in engineering and manufacturing, including plant manager.  Mr. Hinrichs earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering magna cum laude from the University of Dayton (Ohio) in 1989, and a master’s degree in business administration from the Harvard Business School in 1994 as a GM Fellow.