Akerna Corp. (Nasdaq: KERN), a leading cannabis compliance technology provider and developer of the cannabis industry’s first seed-to-sale enterprise resource planning (ERP) software technology (MJ Platform®), announced today the appointment of Nina Simosko to the new role of Chief Revenue Officer (CRO). As CRO of Akerna, Nina will oversee all revenue generation and build strategies to drive revenue growth in the following areas:
- Grow MJ Platform revenues across the U.S. and global cannabis and hemp markets
- Increase enterprise clients, increasing average revenue per client
- Form partnerships that bring additional value to inproducts
- Pursue targeted accretive acquisitions.
The company reaffirms revenue projections for fiscal year 2020 of approximately $17 million as published in October 2018 (the projection does not include impact of any potential acquisitions). “With ambitious growth goals this year, Nina is just the right revenue leader for Akerna thanks to her deep track record of driving enterprise SaaS growth,” stated Akerna CEO Jessica Billingsley. “I know she’ll be an invaluable leader to the team and a powerful partner to the C-Suite.”
Prior to joining Akerna, Nina served as President and CEO of NTT Innovation Institute Inc. (NTT i3), the Silicon Valley-based innovation center for NTT Group, one of the world’s largest information and communications technology companies. Under her leadership, NTT i3 focused on fostering strategic innovation and evolving partners into technology-first, digitally-driven businesses. NTT i3 also partnered with early stage, digitally-native businesses looking to expand their presence.
“The cannabis market’s speed of scale, growth and change is only surpassed by technology,” commented Nina. “In this unique environment, Jessica and her team have driven innovation that created the new sector of cannabis technology. As a fellow innovator, I look forward to bringing my experiences and insights to Akerna and helping to further propel growth.”
Nina’s experience also includes Senior Vice President of SAP’s Global Premier Customer Network (PCN), leading both the PCN Center of Excellence and SAP’s Global Executive Advisory Board. During her eight-year tenure at SAP, Nina was part of the Global Ecosystem & Partner Group, which was charged with continuing to build and enable an open ecosystem of software, service and technology partners together with SAP’s communities of innovation. Additionally, she served as the Global Chief Operating Officer for SAP’s worldwide Customer Education organization, responsible for driving more than half a billion euros in global education software and services revenue. In addition, at Nike, Nina led the creation and execution of Nike Technology strategy, planning and operations world-wide. Currently, Nina serves on the advisory boards of a few early-to-mid stage technology companies including: AppOrchid, DeepSense.ai, Reflektion, and Scanta Inc.
“Nina’s proven track record of success, depth of expertise and scale of operations experience clearly affirms she possesses the right combination of Silicon Valley skills to drive Akerna’s revenue generation. As a member of Akerna’s Board of Directors, I look forward to collaborating with her,” stated Mark D. Iwanowski, Founder, CEO and President of Global Visions-SV, Inc. and former Oracle CIO.