Ispire Technology, a manufacturer of e-cigarettes and cannabis vaping products, today announced that Jim McCormick has been appointed chief financial officer. The company also announced the appointments of John Patterson as senior vice president of international nicotine, effective June 3; Dennis Lider as senior vice president of cannabis product sales; and David Hessler as senior vice president of operations.
Ispire’s Co-CEO Michael Wang says the moves will help the company gear up for rapid expansion both domestically and internationally.
Jim McCormick has more than 30 years of leadership experience. McCormick is the former COO and CFO of KushCo Holdings and president of Ignite International.
John Patterson brings more than 25 years of extensive experience in the tobacco and next-generation nicotine categories, spanning both U.S. domestic and international markets, notably in the UK and the EU.
Since 2019, Dennis Lider has held senior-level positions with publicly traded cannabis companies, overseeing wholesale, retail, and distribution sales functions.
David Hessler's journey led him to Moscow in 1992, where he spent two decades in the global cigarette industry with PMI and JTI. At JTI's Global Supply Chain organization, Hessler oversaw Asia-Pacific supply chain and manufacturing functions, including JTI Petro in St. Petersburg, Russia, the world's largest cigarette factory outside China, producing 87 billion cigarettes annually valued at over $5 billion. In 2017, he transitioned to the cannabis industry, serving as president of manufacturing at Grupo Flor in Salinas, CA.
Ispire is engaged in the research and development, design, commercialization, sales, marketing, and distribution of branded e-cigarettes and cannabis vaping products. The company’s operating subsidiaries own or license more than 500 patents.
The company's tobacco products are marketed under the Aspire brand name and are sold worldwide (except in the U.S., People’s Republic of China and Russia) primarily through its global distribution network. Ispire's cannabis products are marketed under the Ispire brand name primarily on an original design manufacturer (ODM) basis to other cannabis vapor companies.
Ispire sells its cannabis vaping hardware only in the U.S., and it recently started marketing activities in Canada and Europe.
