Empower Clinics taps Matthew Lee as CFO and updates investors on key advances

Empower Clinics Inc. (OTCMKTS:EPWCF) (CSE:EPW), the medical cannabis company, told investors Wednesday that it has tapped Matthew Lee as its new chief financial officer and notched several key advances over the past two months.

In an update to shareholders, CEO Steven McAuley outlined some of the Vancouver cannabis company’s recent achievements.

READ: Empower Clinics rises as it announces plans for hemp-based cannabidiol extraction facility in Oregon

Key among them is the company’s proposed move to open a hemp-based CBD extraction facility in greater Portland, Oregon in the second quarter of this year. Under a new deal, Empower has struck a non-binding term agreement with Aibeida LifeTech Ltd where Aibeida is set to sell and license specialized extraction equipment to Empower and help to build and set up the first Empower CBD extraction facility. The first extraction system in Portland is expected to be able to produce 6,000 kilograms of extracted product per year and the facility will be managed by Aibeida’s chief scientist Dr. Shuang Xie.

“We have made considerable progress over the past eight weeks as we work to diversify and expand the Company’s profile,” said Steven McAuley, CEO of Empower. “We continue to move aggressively toward establishing a diversified and vertically integrated CBD-focused company that has an expanding network of physician-staffed medical clinics offering support to our many thousands of patients.”

In other news, Empower has also struck a non-binding deal to acquire the business of Sun Valley Certification Clinics Holdings LLC, which operates a network of medical cannabis and pain management practices, with clinics in Arizona and Las Vegas as well as a tele-medicine platform serving California.

Separately, Empower has also started selling its own line of CBD-based products called Sollievo via its network of company-owned clinics in the US. The offerings include CBD lotion, tinctures, spectrum oils, capsules, lozenges, patches, topical lotions, gel caps, e-drinks, hemp extract drops and pet elixir hemp extract drops.

Empower has high hopes for its CBD products in the wake of the recent passage of the US Farm bill, which has legalized hemp and hemp-based products in the US.

READ: Empower Clinics’ acquisition of Sun Valley Clinics expected to create one of the largest clinic groups in US medical cannabis sector

The appointment of Matthew Lee as CFO comes as Empower has hired Invictus Accounting Group to help with public financial reporting and compliance.

A chartered professional accountant with a degree from the University of British Columbia, Lee boasts financial experience running both public and private company operations across sectors including mineral resources, cannabis and financial services.

“We are very pleased to have Matthew Lee join our leadership team and to bring abroad the diversified financial and accounting support of Invictus,” added McAuley.

Empower owns and operates a network of physician-staffed clinics focused on medical cannabis.

Contact Ellen Kelleher at [email protected]

Story by ProactiveInvestors