Canopy Growth Names Luc Mongeau, ex-Mars and Weston Exec, as CEO
Canopy Growth Corp., the struggling Canadian cannabis company with ambitions in food & beverage, named Luc Mongeau as its next CEO, replacing David Klein, who retired in August.
Mongeau most recently was CEO of ESolutions Furniture, formerly Bestar-Bush, “North America’s leading e-commerce provider for residential and commercial furniture,” according to Canopy’s announcement. But he previously was president at Weston Foods, a huge Canadian baker, as well as president of Mars Petcare North America.
Mongeau joined Canopy Growth’ board of directors as an observer in early 2023 and as a full member this past February.
Klein had been chairman of Canopy's board of directors since Constellation Brands bought into the company in 2017. He was executive vice president and chief financial officer of Constellation until the American liquor and beer company moved him to Canopy, in which Constellation held at least a 50% ownership.
Klein held a number of leadership roles in his 14 years at Constellation. He had been Canopy’s CEO since 2020. He will step down as a member of the board but will shift into a special advisor role until Aug. 31, 2025.
Canopy has had a rough time since ousting its founder, chairman and CEO Bruce Linton in 2019. Constellation bought in at a time when it looked like cannabis would be made legal across the U.S., as it already was in Canada. But annual losses bled into Constellation’s finances, and the American company ended its multi-billion-dollar investment in the Canadian firm early this year. In it’s mid-year financial report, for the six months ending Sept. 30, Canopy lost C$260 million (US$192 million) on sales of C$129 million (US$95 million).