Kaival Brands Innovations Group, Inc. | NASDAQ: KAVL

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Kaival Brands Innovations Group, Inc.

About Us

Kaival Brands

mission

At Kaival Brands, we are on a mission to set the highest standard and elevate the adult consumer experience for vaping.

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Executive Leadership

Our Team

Barry Hopkins

Executive Chairman, Interim Chief Executive Officer & President

Executive Chairman, Interim Chief Executive Officer & President

Barry Hopkins has decades of senior executive experience within the traditional tobacco vape, and CBD spaces. Mr. Hopkins spent most of his decades-long career primarily in senior sales and marketing roles for Turning Point Brands and Altria. Most recently, before retiring, Mr. Hopkins served as Senior Vice President of Executive Organizational Development of Turning Point Brands, where he led that company’s senior management team in building the infrastructure for an enhanced performance management system and development of a new strategic planning process with a focus on mission critical initiatives to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. These initiatives contributed to eight record-setting quarters in terms of revenue growth.

Mr. Hopkins earned an undergraduate degree in Business Administration, Management and Operations from his studies at Staten Island College and Bernard Baruch University.

Stephen Sheriff

Chief Operating Officer

Chief Operating Officer

Stephen Sheriff is currently the Chief Operating Officer of Kaival Brands (NAS: KAVL).

Mr. Sheriff spearheads the design and implementation of corporate policies and procedures that seek to optimize the day-to-day functioning of Kaival’s operational units as well as the Company’s compliance with applicable laws, rules and regulations. In addition to his day-to-day role, he leads the Company’s investor relations and communications efforts. Prior to Kaival Brands, Mr. Sheriff co-founded Riverhill Group, LLC, a capital markets advisory and consulting firm that leverages the power of relationships and collective thinking to bring qualitative capital and operations solutions to founders and companies in the most effective and efficient manner. Riverhill assists clients in developing key strategies, business development plans, branding strategies and operations management systems.

Prior to Riverhill Group, in 2012, Mr. Sheriff founded Riverhill Ventures, LLC, where he developed a broad portfolio, including quick and full-service restaurants, natural foods and consumer brands, health and wellness, and health tech investments. In addition to Riverhill Group and Riverhill Ventures, Mr. Sheriff previously an Associate at Solebury Trout (now Solebury Strategic Communications) where he gained valuable experience in capital markets, investor relations and public company finance and compliance matters.

He received his Bachelor of Arts in Counseling Psychology from Delaware Valley University.

Thomas Metzler

Chief Financial Officer

Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Metzler brings over 20 years of finance and operational experience in the vaping and consumer products sector, previously serving as Managing Director of a Division of Turning Point Brands (NYSE: TPB), a manufacturer, marketer and distributor of branded alternative smoking accessories and consumables with active ingredients. At Turning Point Brands, Mr. Metzler led a team to transform the process of financial management efficiencies, which improved cost controls, managed inventory turn, developed strategic product promotions to accelerate product distribution, and built strategic alliances with suppliers Mr. Metzler has an extensive knowledge of vaping technologies, building strong partnerships with industry stakeholders and has been actively engaged in national trade and industry standards organizations. Mr. Metzler also has experience in mergers and acquisitions and post-acquisition integration.

Prior to Turning Point Brands, Mr. Metzler served as Managing Partner and Chief Financial Officer of Vaporbeast, where he presided over rapid revenue growth while maintaining above average industry margins and profitability. Vaporbeast was acquired by Turning Point Brands in 2016. Mr. Metzler was a licensed CPA for over 20 years, during which time he provided accounting and related consulting services to many companies. He began his career working with public and private companies in the assurance practice at Pricewaterhouse Coopers LLP in Boston.

Mr. Metzler earned a B.S. in Accounting from Canisius College.

Nirajkumar Patel

Chief Science & Regulatory Officer, and Director

Chief Science & Regulatory Officer, and Director

Mr. Nirajkumar Patel, attended AISSMS College of Pharmacy in Pune, India and received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Pharmacy in 2004, after moving to the United States in 2005. Niraj has a Master's in Chemistry from Florida Institute of Technology and holds a Six Sigma Black Belt Certification.

“We are the same family with the same values. The reason why we did what we did is to provide a better product, a top-quality product. The way we structured our company models and the vision, and the device we made, we think that this is the way to keep open multiple options for people who are 21 years and older who use combustible tobacco products.”

George Chuang

Independent Director

Independent Director

After graduating from the University of Chicago, Mr. Chuang spent time at Chase Manhattan Bank as an Assistant Treasurer for their Credit Risk Department. Mr. Chuang received a Master of Business Administration degree at Yale University after which he spent quite a few years as a management consultant at Pricewaterhouse Management Consulting, followed by a stint as the Chief Administrative Officer for several equity product sales groups at Lehman Brothers. In addition to these positions, Mr. Chuang spent eight years as a Principal at Pacific Partnership Advisors LLC, a consulting firm with offices in New York and Beijing, which facilitated cross-border transactions between the US and China in consumer products, education, eCommerce, and agricultural sectors. Four years ago, Mr. Chuang founded and is currently the Chief Executive Officer of, Lucy Labs, Inc. an asset management firm focused on cryptocurrency algorithmic trading. Mr. Chuang is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.

Roger Brooks

Independent Director

Independent Director

Mr. Brooks is currently the Chairman, Treasurer, and Co-founder of Abierto Networks, positions he has held since 2005. Prior to his roles at Abierto Networks, from 1998 to 2008, Mr. Brooks was the lead independent director and member of the compensation and audit committees for Moldflow Corporation, a Nasdaq-listed software company that was sold to Autodesk, Inc. in 2008. From 2017 to 2019, Mr. Brooks served as an independent director of Lytron, Incorporated, a closely held international industrial solutions company. From 1998 to 2002, Mr. Brooks served as President, Chief Executive Officer, and member of the board for Intelligent Controls, Inc., a publicly traded software and instrumentation company, which was sold to Franklin Electric Co. Inc. Mr. Brooks was President, Chief Executive Officer, and a board member of Dynisco, Inc. from 1987 to 1996 where he grew the company from $10 million of sales to an international company with over $100 million of sales. Roger holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Connecticut and a Master of Business Administration degree from New York University, Stern Graduate Business School. He is also a graduate of the Stanford University Executive Management Program.

David Worner

Independent Director

Independent Director

David Worner is currently the CEO & Founder of GrowthPath Partners, a transactional accounting & advisory firm. Prior to founding GrowthPath Partners, David was a Partner at NOW CFO, a national finance & accounting consulting firm, for nine years. Prior to NOW CFO, David worked in management roles in both a Public Company and a Private Equity backed company. He started his career in public accounting. With 18 years of accounting and finance experience, David brings a wealth of knowledge in mergers & acquisitions, debt & equity raises, technical accounting and various types of public offerings.

James P. Cassidy

Independent Director

Independent Director

James P. Cassidy is the founder and CEO of Preposterous Holdings, a family run private equity firm with offices in Asheville, North Carolina which he established in 2013. Mr. Cassidy has worked as a private equity investor and advisor for over 25 years with dozens of companies across several industries, with extensive experience in the tobacco, technology, hospitality, consumer packaged goods, and healthcare sectors.

Since May 2021, he has served as Chairman of the Board of Two Trees Beverage Company, a North Carolina-based technology company focused on the spirits industry. Beginning in 2016, as an early investor, he helped guide GoFire, Inc. as a board member and consultant until the sale of that company’s intellectual property portfolio to our company in May 2023.

From 2000 to 2007, he was partner in The StrataGroup, a wealth management advisory group at Smith Barney. He started his career from 1983 to 1993 at UST Inc., a tobacco business holding company, working in various roles in the government relations department and as Director of Corporate Services.

Mark Thoenes

Interim CFO & Director

Interim CFO

Mr. Thoenes is a senior/c-suite level executive with more than 35 years of diverse financial and operational leadership. He has been a licensed Certified Public Accountant since 1984, and began his career with Ernst & Young Global Limited. From 2000 to 2010, Mark served as the Executive Vice President/Chief Financial Officer of Rentrak Corporation (“Rentrak”), a publicly-traded company listed on Nasdaq and headquartered in Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1977, Rentrak went public in 1986, and remained a public company until it was acquired by comScore, Inc. in 2016, after Mr. Thoenes left Rentrak. For the past eleven years, Mark has been the President of MLT Consulting Services, LLC, a full-service business/financial consulting firm.

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