Village Farms International Expands Executive Team

Newly Created Roles Support Continued Global Cannabis Growth

VANCOUVER, British Columbia and ORLANDO, Fla., April 24, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Village Farms International, Inc. (“Village Farms” or “the Company”) (NASDAQ: VFF) today announced that it is expanding its executive team with the following new roles:

• Chief Operating Officer – Ann Gillin Lefever;
• President, Global Medical Cannabis – Paul Furfaro; and,
• General Counsel, Global Cannabis – John Harloe.
  

“We have expanded our global cannabis business considerably over the last several years with strong, profitable growth in Canada while adding four medicinal export markets, with more to come. In the Netherlands, we are building out our initial facility as the only North American company to participate in the first major recreational cannabis market in Europe. The creation of these new positions reflects both our proven business model and the significant potential of our cannabis opportunity going forward. It is a testament to the strength of our organization that we have identified the right individuals to take on these critical roles from within our own ranks,” said Michael DeGiglio, President and Chief Executive Officer, Village Farms.

Ms. Gillin Lefever is an accomplished business, finance and capital markets executive who served as an external consultant to Village Farms starting in 2020. In 2022, she joined the Company as Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs, leading the Company’s communications, strategy, governmental affairs and capital markets functions. Ms. Gillin Lefever was previously Head of the Institutional Sales team at Barclays and Senior Equity Research analyst covering the Consumer Products sector at two Wall Street firms, where she was the recipient of numerous awards. She later leveraged this experience as trusted advisor to organizations on governance and financial strategies. Ms. Gillin Lefever holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Finance from Georgetown University and an MBA from The Wharton School. She sits on Georgetown University McDonough School's Board of Advisors.

Mr. Furfaro joined Village Farms in 2023 as Senior Vice President, Strategy, leading, amongst other initiatives, an assessment of international cannabis opportunities and later assuming leadership of the global medical cannabis business. Prior to Village Farms, Mr. Furfaro was Vice President of Operations and Interim President and Chief Executive Officer at the Société Québécoise du Cannabis (SQDC), Quebec’s provincial cannabis board, where he was responsible for creating and implementing the operations infrastructure, oversaw the opening of 90 dispensaries, and helped grow the sales staff to over 1000 employees. Prior thereto, Mr. Furfaro was Director of Business Development for British American Tobacco Canada, where he was responsible for improving the organization’s performance and competitiveness. Mr. Furfaro holds an MBA from McGill University and HEC Montréal and a BCom from Concordia University. He currently serves as a mentor for McGill University’s Integrated Management Student Fellowship and is a member of the Circle of Presidents of Quebec’s Marketing Network.