BC Hemp Corporation has hired a woman who was once touted as the youngest Chamber of Commerce president in Prince George’s history
Adele Schlick joins the company as its new Chief Financial Officer and is set to help develop and expand the north’s hemp industry through a new production site.
In early March, BC Hemp Corporation introduced a $350-million facility, which, if approved, set to start production in two years, providing hemp fibre and grain and teaching local businesses and organizations its proper use.
The company says Schlick’s background and community-presence are what led to her hire.
“Mrs. Schlick’s qualifications relating to financial, business development and project management were essential to our decision,” reads a BC Hemp release.
“Her insight in the inner workings of successful operations will be an asset as we move forward.”
Schlick was president of the Prince George Chamber in 2009-10 and remains on the Board of Governors.
She’s worked for the Royal Bank of Canada the last four years, where BC Hemp says she developed financial and business strategies for companies to ‘achieve their goals.’
The Prince George location is predicted to create more than 1,500 jobs and add the project would generate more than $75 million in wages annually.
As part of the proposed site, there would be a 100-acre test crop, testing different varieties of hemp and cultivation methods.
"The focus will be on developing an organic and environmentally-focused ability to grow hemp," said CEO Michael Fazakas in a release.
"Having the production facility in Northern British Columbia will significantly increase the value of the hemp cultivated in the North."
BC Hemp says they are reaching out to First Nations, farmers and communities to develop:
- Educational programs
- Land leasing/renting and purchasing programs
- Methods to grow industrial hemp
- Community capacity to produce and sell hemp
- Secondary businesses which use hemp
- with files from Jess Fedigan, PrinceGeorgeMatters
