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Orville Bovenschen, chief operating officer, Pure Sunfarms, appointed president

(Globe Newswire) Vancouver — Village Farms International, Inc. today announced the appointment of Orville Bovenschen as president of Pure Sunfarms, effective immediately. Mandesh Dosanjh has stepped down from his role at Pure Sunfarms and will move into a strategic advisory position for a transitional 90-day period.

Bovenschen joined Village Farms as vice president of European business development and operations and was later named chief operating officer of Pure Sunfarms, returning to the Village Farms’ facility he originally helped design, repurpose and commission for cannabis operations. He also formerly held several senior roles in cannabis, during which, among other things, he oversaw innovation and new product launches.

“Orville takes on leadership of Pure Sunfarms as we are executing on our strategy to meet the evolving preferences of the cannabis market in pursuit to be the long-term, profitable market leader. Orville has a strong track record of delivering operational efficiency and has led multiple initiatives that have improved quality and consistency across all Pure Sunfarms’ brands. Having worked closely with Orville for several years, I have the utmost confidence in his ability to lead one of the deepest, most experienced and most successful management groups in the cannabis industry, who, together with the Rose LifeScience team, are building on our dominant position in dried flower and leading brands to take our Canadian Cannabis business to the next level.” — Michael DeGiglio, CEO, Village Farms

“I would like to thank Mandesh for the five years he dedicated to leading Pure Sunfarms, one of the largest, lowest cost cannabis operations in the world, and contributing to our top-three market share position nationally,” added DeGiglio.

Bovenschen joined Village Farms as vice president, business development and operations, Europe in 2021, before being appointed chief operating officer of Pure Sunfarms in 2022. Prior to joining Village Farms, he served as chief operating officer (among other executive roles) of its previous joint venture partner for Pure Sunfarms.

Bovenschen has also spent more than 15 years in a number of international business capacities, working in Europe and the Middle East in addition to North America. He holds a bachelor of business administration and attained his master of business administration from Nyenrode Business University in the Netherlands.