Chicago-based cannabis retailer Cresco Labs is adding to its C-suite as marijuana becomes legalized in Illinois and other states across the country.
Cresco Labs announced Monday that it has hired Mo Dastagir as its next chief information officer. Dastagir comes to Cresco Labs from Sears, where he served as vice president and chief technology officer. Dastagir also previously worked in India as one of the first five employees at Amazon Hyderabad, which became Amazon.com’s India operations. He also spent eight years in Switzerland working on the tech teams at Novartis Pharmaceuticals and Roche Pharmaceuticals.
Dastagir replaces Zach Marburger, who is taking on a new role at Cresco Labs as entrepreneur in residence, the company announced.
Cresco Labs, which went public in December on the Canadian Securities Exchange, is one of Chicago's largest cannabis firms. In April, it acquired California cannabis distributor Origin House for $850 million, which was the largest public cannabis company acquisition ever in the U.S.
As cannabis continues its path to legalization state by state, local operators are increasingly hiring top talent as the industry booms. Last month Revolution Enterprises, another large Illinois-based cannabis operator, announced that it hired Alissa Jubelirer, a former senior legal and compliance executive at Groupon, as its general counsel.
“We continue to attract top-tier talent across a variety of disciplines, and Mo Dastagir is the latest example,” Cresco Labs CEO Charlie Bachtell said in a statement. “Mo has a long track record of successfully scaling and implementing a diverse array of major technology programs for Fortune 500 companies and will ensure that Cresco’s technology infrastructure and capabilities remain on the leading edge of the cannabis industry."
