Executives from big retail brands and consumer-packaged-goods companies are pouring into the rapidly maturing cannabis industry.

The financial opportunity is massive — analysts say the cannabis industry could skyrocket to $194 billion if other countries follow Canada's lead and legalize the drug.

Expect to see more high-profile executives taking positions in cannabis companies as more markets open up.

When Ed Schmults, a veteran retail executive, received an out-of-the-blue phone call from a headhunter in July, he had no idea that in just a few short months he'd end up as the CEO of a cannabis company.

"She was working hard to put the hook in — about the size of the opportunity and the 'clean slate,' if you will," Schmults told Business Insider. She didn't initially tell Schmults that she was recruiting for a cannabis company.

"I was like, 'Huh, cannabis? I'll have to think about that,'" he said. "At the end of the day, I really liked the investors."

Schmults, now the new CEO of Calyx Peak Capital, a firm based in Massachusetts that invests in cannabis retail licenses in several states, is just one of numerous consumer veterans who have moved into the nascent industry.

Executives like Schmults see an opportunity to use their experience to help build brands, cut deals, and create the complex distribution and supply-chain networks the cannabis industry needs in order to mature.

Getting in early may also be a windfall. According to the Bank of Montreal, the cannabis industry could become a $194 billion global market if more countries follow Canada's lead and legalize the drug.

From a 'radical notion' to 'how can I get in on the action?'

To Schmults, cannabis is a "rare opportunity" to take part in creating an industry from the ground up.

After a stint at Goldman Sachs, Schmults was the chief operating officer of Patagonia and the CEO of the storied toy retailer FAO Schwarz.

While some of his former colleagues ribbed him over his "sharp career turn," Schmults said that when he described the size of the opportunity, their jokes turned to questions of how and when they could invest.

Other executives came into the cannabis industry through different paths.

Chris Burggraeve, the former chief marketing officer of Budweiser's parent company, AB InBev, found his way into the cannabis industry after MBA students at a class he was teaching at New York University submitted proposals for cannabis startups as their final projects.

Read more: A cannabis CEO who led turnarounds at FAO Schwarz and Patagonia explains why he's looking to poach 'nimble' people from small companies — rather than big-name execs

"It piqued my interest," Burggraeve said in a recent interview with Business Insider. In 2016, Burggraeve took the plunge and founded Toast, a cannabis brand geared toward upscale consumers.

When Burggraeve launched Toast, he said that leaving the traditional consumer-packaged-goods world (he held positions at Procter & Gamble and Coca-Cola before AB InBev) for cannabis was a "radical notion."

Now Burggraeve says nearly all former colleagues he speaks with have one question: How do I get in on the action?

Peter Horvath, who led the shoe retailer DSW's initial public offering in 2005 as the company's president — along with serving in C-suite positions at American Eagle and Victoria's Secret — said that jumping into the cannabis industry was a matter of "skating to where the puck is going."

Horvath said he expected cannabis products to pop up on the radars of boardrooms everywhere, from beauty startups like Glossier to retail behemoths like Amazon.

Marijuana for sale at the MedMen store in West Hollywood, California. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

He's now the CEO of Green Growth Brands, an Ohio-based cannabis retailer backed by the billionaire Schottenstein family. The company went public on Tuesday via a reverse merger with Xanthic Biopharma on the Canadian Securities Exchange and plans to use its stock to buy dispensary licenses in new state markets like Massachusetts.

"We're going to apply what we know to a brand-new business, and the upside is tremendous," Horvath said.

Read more: Coca-Cola is eyeing a deal in the marijuana industry, and insiders say it's a sign that other beverage giants may soon dive in

There are other high-profile execs in cannabis as well.

Beau Wrigley Jr., the heir to the Wrigley fortune and former CEO of the eponymous gum company, was just named the CEO of Surterra Wellness, a medical cannabis company based in Florida.

And the publicly traded cannabis company Green Thumb Industries — whose CEO, Ben Kovler, is an heir to the Jim Beam whiskey fortune — on Wednesday closed a $290 million acquisition of three new dispensary licenses in Las Vegas; the firm is also backed by the hedge fund billionaire Leon Cooperman.

MedMen, a chain of retail cannabis dispensaries, hired Ben Cook, a former vice president at Sam's Club, as its new COO in October.

And Jakob Ripshtein, who spent 10 years at the alcohol giant Diageo, is now the president of Aphria, a publicly traded Canadian cannabis cultivator.

In August, reports surfaced that Diageo was looking at pursuing a deal with a Canadian cannabis company — and Aphria was at top of the list.

"We are seeing high-profile companies, in addition to institutional investors, waking up to opportunities in the space," Kovler said.

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