Seed

Team

The Seed team

Ed McDermott

Chief Executive Officer

Ed, a former investment banker, has nearly 20 years’ experience in the management, financing, and strategic development of growth companies. He has broad experience in several high growth sectors and previously held several Executive and Non-Executive roles with publicly quoted companies. As a finance specialist, he has been pivotal in raising over $750m for public and private companies during his career. Ed is co-founder and was Managing Director of Europe’s largest medical cannabis company, EMMAC Life Sciences, which was acquired by Curaleaf international in a deal worth over $400m. Ed also currently serves as a Non-Executive Director of LSE quoted Emmerson Plc.

Ian Burns

Non-Executive Chairman

Ian, a fellow of both the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales and a member of STEP, is a serial entrepreneur and one of the original founders of the Company. He also founded and is Executive Director of Via Executive Limited, a specialist management consulting company and the MD of Regent Mercantile Holdings Limited, a privately owned investment company. He is licensed by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission as a personal fiduciary. Other positions Ian currently holds include: non-executive director and audit committee chairman of River & Mercantile UK Micro Cap Ltd and Twenty Four Income Fund Limited; non-executive director of Darwin Property Management (Guernsey) Limited, Curlew Capital Guernsey Limited and Premier Asset Management (Guernsey) Ltd.; and Chairman of One Hyde Park Limited.

Lance de Jersey

Finance Director

Lance is member of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators and Institute of Directors. He previously headed Partners Group¹s Guernsey office, serving on the Guernsey boards and chairing the Risk & Audit and AML committees and a member of the Investment Oversight committee. He has circa 10 years’ experience in private equity investment administration and management. In the past, Lance has owned and operated retail franchises, marketed and sold small businesses as a business broker and worked as a financial adviser in New Zealand. He is currently a non-executive director of Pearl Holding Limited (an investment fund managed by Partners Group) and is former secretary and vice chairman of the Channel Island Private Equity and Venture Capital Association.

Luke Cairns

Non-Executive Director

Luke Cairns is a highly experienced finance professional with a strong network having worked in the City of London for 19 years in corporate finance. A Guernsey resident, Luke was previously Head of Corporate Finance and Managing Director at Northland Capital Partners, an AIM focused Nomad and Broker, and has worked with many growth companies across several sectors and regions on a wide range of transactions, including IPOs, secondary fundraisings, corporate restructurings and takeovers. Luke has also held directorships on both listed and private companies across various sectors.

Alfredo Pascual

Director, Investment Research

Having worked in the cannabis space since the end of 2016 and as VP of Investment Analysis for SEED from April 2021 until August 2023, Alfredo is a well-known name in the sector across global markets. Prior to joining SEED, Alfredo most recently worked as International Analyst at Marijuana Business Daily (MJBizDaily), the US-based business news and information resource, where he focussed on how cannabis markets and investments were evolving internationally.

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