Executive shuffle announced at Charlotte’s Web

Colorado CBD maker Charlotte’s Web Holdings announced a leadership shakeup Friday, replacing CEO Deanie Elsner with a former Bacardi executive.

Jacques Tortoroli was former Chief Administrative Officer of Bacardi Ltd., the world’s largest privately-held spirits company.

In a statement, Tortoroli said the change was “a mutual decision made amicably between Ms. Elsner and the board.

“We are grateful for her commitment and contribution to Charlotte’s Web. Through her leadership she extended the company’s leading market position and I look forward to building upon her work.”

Other executive changes announced by the Boulder, Colorado, company include:

  • Chief Financial Officer Wes Booysen getting an expanded role as Chief Financial & Operating Officer.
  • Chief Cultivation Officer Jared Stanley taking on an expanded role as Chief Cultivation and Innovation Officer , overseeing extraction and new-product development.

The changes come after Charlotte’s Web stock fell some 44% in the last three months of the year.

A December note from New York-based investment banking firm Cantor Fitzgerald pointed out that ongoing federal inaction on CBD regulation has stymied expected growth in mass retail channels, and that consumers are moving toward lower-priced CBD products like gummies and away from more-expensive tinctures.

“Without congressional legislation (jointly for cannabis and CBD), change is unlikely to happen … (and) the national food-drug-mass retail chains (which follow federal rules) are unlikely to stock up on edibles,” analyst Pablo Zuanic wrote.

Still, the company leads the fractured marketplace for over-the-counter CBD and is one of the few companies that could fare well when regulations change, Zuanic added.

Charlotte’s Web trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange as CWEB.