Materia Ventures, a Canadian cannabis company breaking into the European market, announced its leadership team on Tuesday, including a vice-president of legal and business strategy.

Dennis Beker, based in Toronto, said in a telephone interview on Tuesday that he was one of the first employees of the company outside of the founders. He explained that he had some exposure to the cannabis industry as a firm attorney and wanted to find a role that was more business-facing and that the job as top lawyer at Materia Ventures checked all of his boxes.