Sundial CEO trades beaches for the bud room
Cannabis company in hands of former executive from Molson Coors, Coca-Cola
Sundial Growers chief executive Torsten Kuenzlen was all smiles as he welcomed invited guests to the opening of the company ’s production facility in Olds earlier this month.
The soon-to-be 500,000 squarefoot building, nestled in the south side of the central Alberta town, grows in size each day, much like its budding cannabis.
Kuenzlen is far from the California sun to which he’d grown accustomed, having moved his family in January from San Diego, where he operated an advisory firm.
His 20-plus years of Fortune 500 experience includes five as global chief commercial officer at Molson Coors International and 17 years in executive roles at Coca-Cola.
“I spent 25 years in what we call fast moving consumer goods,” said Kuenzlen.
“Really, I had moved to California because I thought that my active working days were over and then when Sundial called ... it was impossible to say no, despite the weather,” he said, smiling.
Kuenzlen said he has drawn on his previous experiences to position Sundial in the country ’s fledgling cannabis industry.
“Hopefully, that’s one thing that differentiates ourselves a little bit,” he said. “We believe that cannabis is a consumer goods industry like any other.
“In my life, I have fought for 0.1 per cent of market share with hundreds of millions of dollars of marketing spent to wrestle a couple more consumer points our way.
“Here, you’re at an industry where you can’t grow fast enough. It’s a completely different approach.”
Sundial president Geoff Thompson said Kuenzlen’s international experience, including roles in Africa and Asia with Coca-Cola, is what sets him apart.
“We knew Sundial was going to be a really large company and we wanted someone who had a global capability of running large companies,” said Thompson.
“Torsten is a tremendous add to our team, he makes sure that we’re fully accountable to our buildout at pace and when you look at where this industry is going to be two years from now, you’re going to see all sorts of consumer goods that don’t exist today.
“We have opportunities to walk through doors in countries where he can introduce us to governments in power in countries because of his past relationships. When you look at the build-out, we don’t want to just be an average player — we’re trying to be the best in the world at what we do.”
With the company ’s sights set on a global cannabis empire, Kuenzlen said Sundial has three things they are keeping in mind when it comes to the now-legal product’s abilities.
“We think here at Sundial really about three vectors of what cannabis can do — we call it heal, help and play,” he said.
“I think if you follow carefully in the media you will realize many medical applications for cannabis plants have already been found ... to treat things like childhood epilepsy and other things where cannabis can make a difference.
“As the prohibition of cannabis ends and we can in earnest as an industry ... begin the research into what these plants can do, we really think there is huge healing potential.”
Whether or not Sundial makes it to the global market, Kuenzlen at least hopes to turn the Olds area into the Silicon Valley of cannabis.
“I think it’s the beginning of a boom you’re going to see here in Olds,” he said.
“If everyone keeps doing what they’re doing, then this corridor will become the Silicon Valley of cannabis, and that will be an exciting opportunity for all of us.”
Sundial has already partnered with two universities to begin to understand the plant’s potential in the medical field.