OAKLAND, CA and TORONTO, Dec. 2, 2019 /CNW/ - PRESS RELEASE - Harborside Inc., a California-focused, vertically integrated cannabis enterprise, has announced that it has appointed Tom DiGiovanni as Chief Financial Officer. Keith Li will remain with the company as the Vice President of Finance. DiGiovanni is expected to commence his role with the company on Dec. 9, 2019, subject to receipt of any necessary approvals of the Canadian Securities Exchange.

"We are pleased to welcome Tom DiGiovanni to the Harborside team and believe his financial acumen and cannabis background will have an immediate impact on our continued growth, and more importantly in these tougher markets, our bottom line profitability," said Peter Bilodeau, interim CEO. "Tom has a strong financial and operations background serving public companies and his most recent role as CFO at Canndescent provides a level of understanding of the risk management and financial hurdles any cannabis business faces. We look forward to applying Tom's core financial values, experience and discipline to our organization as we navigate the ever-changing cannabis industry. We believe it is important that our CFO be boots on the ground in the heart of our day-to-day operations working out of our corporate headquarters in Oakland. Further to that, I want to say that we look forward to continuing to work closely with Keith Li as he transitions to his new role as Vice President of Finance. Keith works out of Toronto. We thank Keith for his exemplary services as CFO and the extra efforts he put forward during his tenure."

"I am thrilled to be joining Harborside Inc. and have always admired their long, successful history as one of the leading companies in the California cannabis market," said DiGiovanni. "I look forward to working alongside the entire executive team at Harborside to establish and drive strong financial discipline and navigate the continuously-changing financial and legislative environment, both in California as well as nationally."

DiGiovanni most recently was a founding partner and the CFO at Canndescent, a vertically integrated cannabis company. During his tenure, Canndescent grew from a pre-revenue startup into one of the number one brands of luxury flower in California and a multi-state brand operator. DiGiovanni managed the day-to-day financial accounting and reporting functions, as well as helped implement the banking, financing and cash management procedures that allowed the company to quickly grow into an industry leader. Prior to joining Canndescent, DiGiovanni served in multiple executive roles in finance and operations, including as CFO of Mainstream Energy, where he managed growth rates of more than 100% per year, helped consummate the merger of Mainstream Energy into Sunrun Inc. (NYSE: RUN) and the successful spin out of the commercial installation business of Mainstream Energy to REC Commercial Solar Corp. DiGiovanni is a Certified Public Accountant and a graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology, where he received a Bachelor of Science in Accounting with a minor in Economics.