SANTA BARBARA, Calif., June 30, 2021 – PRESS RELEASE – HERBL, California’s largest cannabis distributor and supply chain solutions company, announced the retirement of its chief operating officer (COO), Art Smuck, and the appointment of Robert (Bobby) Turner as the incoming COO. Turner joins HERBL with over three decades of management experience at Whole Foods Market and will oversee operations, transportation, purchasing and product security throughout the organization.
Smuck is a supply chain veteran whose 30-plus-year career spanned across leading consumer packaged goods (CPG) and logistics companies, including Nestle, ATC Logistics & Electronics, GENCO and FedEx Supply Chain. At HERBL, Smuck led the company's operations, transportation, human resources, legal, compliance, loss prevention and information technology departments. Under his leadership, HERBL grew its client base to over 850 storefront and non-storefront retail licensees and became one of the most comprehensive supply chain operations in the modern cannabis industry. Smuck will remain in an advisory role with the company following his retirement.
Turner will assume the role of COO starting July 5, 2021. Prior to HERBL, Turner worked through every level of Whole Foods Market, from in-store management to vice president, where he grew the company's retail footprint by nearly 170%, and most recently served as the regional president in the South. Turner will apply his expertise in business development, driving revenue and profit growth, team building and community engagement to HERBL's expanding operations.
"On behalf of the entire HERBL team, I want to thank Art for his leadership over the past two years; his sweeping knowledge of the supply chain ecosystem has established best practices that the entire industry will benefit from for years to come," HERBL CEO Mike Beaudry said. "Bobby's valuable experience in scaling national brands and his ability to create synergies across various internal teams will be a tremendous asset to the company as we enter our next stage of growth."
In June, HERBL announced its acquisition of Blackbird, a premier cannabis distributor and direct-to-consumer software solutions company based in Nevada. Through this transaction, HERBL becomes a leading multistate supply chain solution in the cannabis industry.
