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George Scorsis is a quintessential businessman with decades of experience within highly regulated industries. He began his journey within regulated industries while he was still a student at York University, where after serving as a university ambassador for Bacardi Canada he was offered a full-time position upon graduation. He worked hard and with that early introduction to the inner workings of business, developed a keen understanding of consumer needs, market fluctuations and how best to introduce new products.
After Bacardi Canada, he worked with Red Bull, where he served as president and from there he stepped into the cannabis industry when it was just beginning to take shape. George was able to learn the cannabis industry from its inception and with that has an in-depth knowledge of its struggles, growth, and potential. Modernisation and efficiency became key to profitability, just as mergers and acquisitions became somewhat standard as the industry found its footing. George helped guide key deals, including the $140 million increase in capital funding from the merger of Entourage Health with Starseed and also the Mettrum Health Corp sale for $430 million.
Just as medical cannabis was finding its way to consumers there was also innovation occurring as health leaders around the world formed partnerships. George Scorsis was able to help medical marijuana companies collaborate in novel ways. One example is when he was chairman of Scythian Biosciences in Florida and was able to form a partnership with the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine via the Miami Project, which was established to research Psilocybin+CBD treatment options of concussions and traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), particularly with regard to effectiveness of treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Post-Concussion Syndrome, and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. George also serves as chairman of the board of Awakn Life Sciences, a company he co-founded, which is exploring effective options for the treatment of alcohol use disorder, and also resides on the board of PlantFuel a plant-based nutritional company.
George Scorsis, Florida finds ways to bring the business
George Scorsis, Florida finds ways to bring the business
Business is known for being a highly competitive industry, within boardrooms and research and development laboratories, as the best and brightest within companies strive to better the competition with innovation and sound decision-making.
Still, there is an entire other layer of business that functions somewhat behind the scenes. It is business at the macro level: As cities compete for the plants and the tech companies that will bring lucrative jobs and boons to local economies, they begin shaping appealing deals in the fashion of loans for commercial ventures or tax breaks for blighted properties that could be the future hubs of commerce. It is all quite strategic: the eventual tax revenue will pay off any current financial breaks that are allotted, the increased incomes of the employees who will have good jobs will also be taxed, and they will have greater disposable income to dispense within the community. It is all interconnected, like a web of benefits that continue for decades after the deals are signed.
Consider, for example, Amazon’s $5 billion second headquarters that was up-for-grabs in 2018. 200 cities applied for it, from which 20 were selected as finalists. The reason for the rush of interest? The headquarters touted 50,000 high-paying positions. While the honor ultimately went to Arlington, VA., some cities that were not selected went to work to address their weak points in order to be more attractive to companies in the future.
Although these sorts of things are not consistently in the limelight, Florida has also been driving the conversation, partly by offering such exceptional opportunities that many technology companies are uprooting from their longtime homes and heading south for the winter, and for every other season as well.
Consider a recent Forbes article: “Forget About San Francisco And Silicon Valley—Miami Is Planning On Becoming The Next Great Tech Hub.”
George Scorsis has been keeping a keen eye on all the developments, and on all the ways that Florida’s leadership has been making the Sunshine State so appealing for industry. As an entrepreneur and business leader with experience in Florida, George Scorsis is fascinated to see all the growth.
“While the tragedy of what the recent hurricane did to communities will, no doubt, demand time in which to heal, I have faith in the resilience of Floridians. My thoughts and heart go out to them. I’m honored to have worked with so many good people from Florida in the past, and look forward to doing so again in the future,” Scorsis said. He noted that many of the ideas presented by city mayors and the governor are nothing short of genius.
“It seems that so often, people want to make doing business as difficult as possible. Conducting business is already so difficult. What I see trending now in Florida is that so many government leaders are recognizing the flaws in other states, where companies that contribute massively to state revenue and to employee livelihoods are being overtaxed, overburdened, and overstressed by endless bureaucracy. Florida and Texas have decided to flip the script, and it seems to be working,” Scorsis explained.
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