Ag commissioner, pot firm founder engaged
Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried is now engaged to her boyfriend, Jake Bergmann, the founder of a company that is one of the state’s biggest suppliers of medical marijuana.
Fried was the only Democrat elected to a statewide position last year.
She made improving access to medical marijuana the signature issue of her campaign.
Bergmann stepped down as the CEO of Surterra Wellness on Nov. 5, 2018, a day before Fried was elected agriculture commissioner, according to a company news release. He founded the Atlanta-based company in 2014.
Bergmann still has an ownership stake in Surterra Wellness but not a controlling stake, said Eric Johnson, the chairman of Fried’s political committee. Surterra Wellness recently changed its name to Parallel.
Bergmann is now CEO of Iconoclast Ventures, a “venture management firm that seeks to spark social change by launching ambitious enterprises,” according to his profile on LinkedIn.
Fried’s office doesn’t directly oversee medical marijuana. The Florida Department of Health provides most of the oversight. Before winning the election, Fried worked as a medical marijuana lobbyist.
Fried has said her relationship has no bearing on her work in Tallahassee, telling Florida Trend, “I have no allegiances to any company. My allegiances are to the state of Florida and to the patients.”
As agriculture commissioner, Fried created a medical marijuana advisory committee and appointed a cannabis director. Her office is working on rules for medical marijuana edibles, and it also will oversee the state’s hemp program.
Bergmann contributed $60,000 to Fried’s political committee during the campaign, according to state campaign finance records. Surterra Wellness is helping to bankroll a proposed ballot initiative to legalize recreational marijuana in Florida, donating $1.6 million to the effort called Make It Legal Florida.
The initiative could go before voters in the 2020 election.
Fried, 41, grew up in South Florida and lived in Fort Lauderdale before moving to Tallahassee for her new job.
Her net worth has risen dramatically since she was elected, going from $271,613 in 2018 to $1.4 million as of June 24, according to financial disclosure statements.
The biggest reason for that change is the addition of a $701,000 home that she shares with Bergmann, the disclosure statement shows.
Bergmann and Fried are listed as the buyers of a Tallahassee home on a Feb. 6, 2019, deed filed in Leon County.
The couple has not set a wedding date, Johnson said.
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