Co-Founder & Board Member

Josh Ginsberg is a seasoned cannabis entrepreneur and industry advisor with over 15 years of experience in business development and operations. He has secured 139 cannabis licenses across North America and Canada, demonstrating a strong track record in merit-based applications. As the founder of Native Roots Dispensary in Colorado, he successfully scaled the company to 23 retail locations, managing 240,000 square feet of indoor cultivation and generating $65 million in annual revenue.

Beyond Colorado, Josh has led cannabis ventures in multiple states, including Ohio (Terresana Group), California (Coastal Dispensaries), Missouri (Route 66), Kentucky (XYZ Brands), Illinois (Cookies Franchise), Alabama (1819 Labs, Blackberry Farms), and Canada (Higharchy, Superette, Garden Variety). He also has a pending license application in Texas. His operational expertise extends to managing cash flow-positive retail companies in Ohio, Missouri, California, Colorado, and Illinois, consistently achieving target profit margins.

With a deep understanding of operational efficiencies, Josh specializes in enhancing profitability through centralized purchasing, streamlined workflows, optimized inventory management, and standardized processes. He has a proven ability to scale, own, operate, and integrate acquisitions across diverse markets, overseeing more than 70 retail operations throughout the United States and Canada.

Co-Founder & Board Member

Julian Michalowski is a cannabis entrepreneur, real estate investor, and strategic advisor with a proven track record of driving over $600 million in business growth. As the Founder, CEO, and Chairman of Coastal Holding Company, he led the company to approximately $100 million in total sales over a four-year period, securing 10 cannabis licenses and ultimately negotiating its $65 million sale to The Parent Company.

At Coastal, Julian developed and implemented a four-wall retail model that optimized cost structures, streamlined operations, and ensured consistent profitability. His strategic approach to supplier negotiations increased gross margins from 42% to 62% within six months, significantly enhancing profitability across retail locations. Leveraging his expertise in real estate, he also renegotiated commercial leases to reduce fixed costs and improve long-term financial performance.

With deep industry experience, Julian has held 31 cannabis licenses across the United States and has successfully raised $20 million in equity and debt funding for Coastal. His expertise spans capital raising, complex licensing, financial modeling, and high-value M&A transactions, positioning him as a leader in the cannabis industry’s growth and development.

Co-Founder & Future Board Member

Art Cirulnick is an accomplished M&A attorney and cannabis law expert with over 45 years of experience and a track record of more than 300 successful transactions, including numerous deals within the cannabis industry. As a Partner at Venable LLP, he specializes in mergers & acquisitions, equity raises, capital structuring, and strategic partnerships to support high-growth cannabis businesses.

With extensive experience advising cannabis companies on fundraising, Art has guided private equity investments, venture capital deals, and debt financing strategies to drive sustainable growth. His expertise in structuring mergers and acquisitions ensures maximum value while maintaining regulatory compliance and tax efficiency. Additionally, his deep understanding of complex cannabis regulations enables seamless transactions and long-term operational success.

As a key leader in Verdant's fundraising and M&A initiatives, Art ensures legal integrity, financial viability, and scalable growth across the firm’s portfolio, making him an essential figure in the evolving cannabis industry.

SVP, Strategy & Growth

Myles Peck is an expert in business operations, corporate development, and M&A execution, with a focus on optimizing operations, driving high growth, and improving corporate efficiencies within the cannabis industry. As the former Chief Operating Officer of Coastal Holding Company, he was instrumental in driving the company’s growth from inception to approximately $100 million in total sales over four years across nine retail locations and in securing ten cannabis licenses throughout California. Overseeing corporate operations across finance, HR, marketing, legal, compliance, and retail, he ensured cohesive performance and scalability while enhancing profitability.

Myles executed on Coastal’s M&A strategy, managing the acquisition process and integration of multiple retail locations and licenses, including a $65 million acquisition and integration of Coastal into the publicly traded company, The Parent Company. His responsibilities included overseeing due diligence, compliance alignment, and post-acquisition transitions and integrations. Additionally, he led efforts to optimize store design, reducing and streamlining buildout costs by over 35%, accelerating new store openings, and improving capital efficiency. Myles is also a co-founder of a cannabis venture with a pending license application in Texas and a co-owner of a licensed operation in Alabama.

Chief Compliance Officer

Eduard Linetskiy is a regulatory compliance and operations expert with a proven track record of opening over 50 cannabis retail licenses across multiple states. As the Founder & CEO of his own consulting firm, he has led regulatory compliance, licensing, audit, and risk management efforts for numerous cannabis operators, ensuring they uphold the highest standards in both regulatory adherence and operational efficiency. His work has supported cannabis businesses in Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Nevada, and New York.

In addition to his consulting expertise, Eduard is a part-owner of an operational cannabis dispensary in New Jersey, where he played a key role in building efficient operations, maintaining fiscal responsibility, and establishing buying parameters to drive profitability. His previous experience includes serving as Head of Regulatory Compliance at MedMen and as Director of Compliance at Houlihan Lokey, a leading international investment bank.

Eduard holds an MBA from NYU and previously held multiple financial services licenses, bringing deep expertise in cannabis regulations, compliance frameworks, and operational risk management to Verdant.

Advisor – Financial Structuring & Restructuring

Henry Owsley is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Gordian Group, leading the firm’s financing, advisory, M&A, and expert witness engagements since its founding in 1988. With decades of experience in financial restructuring and distressed transactions, he has been consistently recognized as one of the top 10 investment bankers in the field of bankruptcy and financial restructuring by The Deal, where he has also been profiled.

Owsley has played a critical role in high-profile financial restructurings, complex financings, and litigation advisory, including serving as the expert witness in the precedent-setting Heilig-Meyers litigation. His expertise extends to a broad range of corporate restructuring and distressed M&A transactions, with key engagements including American Airlines, Enron, LTV Steel, United Rentals, Ben & Jerry’s, Ambac, and Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railroad, among many others.

Prior to co-founding Gordian Group, Owsley was at Goldman Sachs, where he founded the firm’s Workout Group and was a founding member of its Technology Group. In 2016, he co-founded Expert Witness Consulting Services, LLC (EWCS), a firm specializing in expert witness and litigation support services.

Owsley holds a B.S. in Engineering, summa cum laude, from Princeton University and an M.S. from the Sloan School of Management at MIT. He was awarded Phi Beta Kappa, Tau Beta Pi, and Sigma Xi honors.

Advisor – Strategic Advisory & M&A

Peter S. Kaufman is the President of Gordian Group and leads the firm’s Restructuring and Distressed M&A practice. With over three decades of experience in investment banking, he has been consistently ranked among the top financial restructuring investment bankers, including being named #1 nationally by The Deal.

Since joining Gordian Group in 1990, Kaufman has played a critical role in advising companies, boards, and equity holders on financial restructurings, complex M&A transactions, and strategic advisory mandates. His work spans major corporate turnarounds, including engagements with American Airlines, Enron, General Motors, Hostess Brands, MBIA, United Rentals, and many others.

Before joining Gordian Group, Kaufman was a Vice President and founding member of Credit Suisse First Boston’s (CSFB) Distressed Securities Group. He also served as the founding Co-Chairman of the Committee on Investment Banking of the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI).

Kaufman holds a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he serves as an adjunct faculty member, teaching “Advising Boards of Directors Under Siege” and assisting at Darden Business School. He earned a B.A. with honors from Yale College, where he lettered in lacrosse.

In recognition of his contributions to the field, Kaufman was inducted into the M&A Advisor Hall of Fame in 2015. He is a frequent speaker at industry conferences, including the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges and ABI events, and is regularly featured on CNBC, CNN, and other national media for his insights on financial restructurings.