Ascend Wellness Kept Its 2024 Bosses and Lost Sales

Samuel Brill is still chief executive of Ascend Wellness Holdings, two years after the board installed him the day it fired the last CEO. On August 27, 2024, John Hartmann left the top job and Mark Cassebaum was terminated as chief financial officer, both effective that morning.

The board said the swap would fix recent performance problems. Brill, Francis Perullo, and Roman Nemchenko still hold the three jobs. They run more stores and a fatter adjusted margin. They do not run a larger business.

The Board Fired the CEO After a $235 Million Refinancing

The purge landed 40 days after the company closed a $235 million notes placement of senior secured paper. Brill, then a director and lead independent director, had helped steer that deal. The company trades as AAWH-U on the Canadian Securities Exchange and AAWH on the OTCQX.

Hartmann, a former True Value chief, was moved out. Cassebaum was fired. Brill took the CEO seat. Perullo, a co-founder who had been executive vice president of corporate affairs and had earlier served as interim co-CEO, became president. Nemchenko, chief accounting officer since April 2020, became CFO with a brief to lift margins and cash flow.

Ascend then, as now, grew and sold cannabis in Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Ohio, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Executive Chair Abner Kurtin put the reason in writing the morning of the change.

The leadership changes come as part of a broader effort to realign our strategy and address recent performance challenges. We are confident that the changes will bring our focus back to the basics with an emphasis on the fundamentals and will position AWH for future success.

Abner Kurtin, Executive Chair, August 27, 2024 announcement

Perullo, the company said that day, had already taken the firm from a startup to more than half a billion dollars in revenue. The next test was whether a refinancing director, a founder, and the accountant could stop the slide Kurtin had just named.

Two Years Later, the Same Three Executives Still Run Ascend

Cannabis operators chew through chiefs. This slate did not turn over. The Q2 2026 release, dated August 12, 2026, still lists Brill as CEO and director, Perullo as founder, president, and director, and Nemchenko as CFO. That is the same three-man bench named on August 27, 2024.

THE 2024 BENCH, STILL IN PLACE

• Chief executive: Samuel Brill, a director since May 2023, moved from the board into the CEO office the morning Hartmann left.
• President: Francis Perullo, co-founder, shifted from corporate affairs to the operating job and still holds it.
• Chief financial officer: Roman Nemchenko stepped up from chief accounting officer and is still signing the releases.

Brill’s public case is now a store-and-brand playbook, not a rescue speech. “Last quarter, we said we believed we’d reached an important inflection point. This quarter’s performance confirms it,” he said with the Q2 2026 numbers. Perullo talks about more doors, more of the company’s own brands through those doors, and higher revenue per gram. Nemchenko talks about cash.

In Illinois, the house brands still sit at the high end of the shelf even as statewide prices sag, which is one reason the margin story can improve while the top line shrinks. The bet the board placed was that this group would grind the existing map harder than Hartmann had. They have had two years to show it.

Revenue Fell as the Store Count Climbed

The first full quarter with the new team was Q4 2024. Net revenue was $136.0 million, adjusted EBITDA was $30.2 million, and the adjusted EBITDA margin was 22.2%. Brill said the $30 million annualized cost-cut target was substantially done ahead of plan, and that the next job was growth.

The first full year tells a colder story. FY 2024, a mixed year that still included eight months of Hartmann, produced $561.6 million of net revenue. FY 2025, the first full year of the Brill slate, produced full-year 2025 revenue of $500.6 million, down $61.0 million, or 10.9%.

FULL YEAR 2024 VS FULL YEAR 2025

Retail dropped $32.6 million. Wholesale dropped $28.4 million. Adjusted EBITDA barely moved, up $0.7 million, while the margin rose 2.7 points because the company was taking costs out of a smaller book. GAAP net loss widened by $33.2 million, and Q4 2025 included a $17.0 million arbitration settlement.

The door count went the other way. The network stood at 39 locations in August 2024, including partner shops. Eight new dispensaries opened during 2025. By the end of Q2 2026 the count was 55, including partners, 16 more than the day Hartmann left. Eatontown, New Jersey, opened on April 20, 2026 as East Coasting. An underperforming Ann Arbor, Michigan, store was closed in Q1 2026. The company has said it expects to meet or exceed 60 locations by the end of 2026, and Massachusetts raised the retail cap per operator from three to six in April 2026, which Brill’s team wants to use.

Latest quarter: Q2 2026 net revenue of $126.1 million, up 7.9% from $116.9 million in Q1 2026. Retail was $92.7 million, up 11.5% from $83.1 million. Wholesale was $33.4 million, against $33.8 million. Adjusted EBITDA was $29.1 million, a 23.1% margin, against $26.3 million in Q1. Sequential growth is real. It is also growth off a base that is still below Q4 2024’s $136.0 million, a different quarter in a different year, and well below the 2024 run rate.

Where John Hartmann Went After the Ouster

Hartmann did not stay in cannabis. Leslie’s, the pool-supply retailer, appointed him to its board in January 2026. UniGroup, the moving and logistics company, then named president and chief executive officer on June 23, 2026, effective July 13, 2026. UniGroup’s own notice lists Ascend Wellness, True Value, and Mitre 10 among his prior chief-executive jobs.

Cassebaum did not surface in a later company role. The August 27, 2024 release is still the last official word: terminated as CFO, effective immediately.

Shareholders who stayed with Ascend sat in a cheap stock. From the fourth quarter of 2024 through the completed buyback, the company retired about 15.8 million shares at an average $0.32. Cash at year-end 2024 was $88.3 million. By June 30, 2026 it was $67.0 million, down $21.3 million. Net debt moved from $220.2 million at year-end 2024 to $251.8 million. The Brill team has been paying for stores and keeping powder for deals, not shrinking the debt pile as a first job.

Adjusted Margins Held Up; GAAP Losses Did Not

Nemchenko was hired to improve margins and cash. On the adjusted line, he can point to a result. The FY 2025 adjusted EBITDA margin was 23.4%, against 20.7% in FY 2024. Q2 2026 held 23.1%. Adjusted EBITDA dollars in FY 2025, $116.9 million, matched FY 2024’s $116.2 million even as sales fell 10.9%.

THE CASH AND MARGIN TALLY

• Q2 2026 cash from operations: $22.5 million, with free cash flow of $19.5 million after $3.0 million of maintenance-style capital spending.
• Cash on June 30, 2026: $67.0 million, up $6.1 million from Q1 2026, still below the $88.3 million held at year-end 2024.
• Net loss, Q2 2026: $9.8 million, narrower than Q1 2026’s $29.5 million, and still a loss.
• Q4 2025 cash: $85.7 million, after the $60.0 million term loan was retired.

“Sequential growth in revenue and Adjusted EBITDA converted into $22.5 million of cash flow from operations and $19.5 million of Free Cash Flow, bringing our cash balance to $67.0 million, up $6.1 million from Q1 2026,” Nemchenko said. Vertical sales, more of the company’s own grams through its own doors, are the lever he keeps citing.

GAAP still bleeds. FY 2025’s $118.2 million net loss was wider than FY 2024’s $85.0 million, even before anyone treats the $17.0 million arbitration as a one-off. A work stoppage at the Barry, Illinois, cultivation site began June 25, 2026; staff were back by August 3, 2026, under a contract ratified July 30, 2026. The company said Q2 lost only a few wholesale delivery days and that it was still weighing the hit to Q3 2026.

For Q3 2026, the August 12 outlook was a 2 to 4 percent revenue increase and an adjusted EBITDA margin in line with Q2. That is a grind, not a rebound to the $561.6 million year.

Stockholders Backed a Reverse Split for an Uplist

The unfinished piece of the 2024 wager is a U.S. listing. The stock is still on the CSE and the OTCQX. On August 28, 2026, stockholders voted at a virtual special meeting to let the board effect a reverse split of Class A shares, a step the company has tied to a planned application for a national exchange.

FROM THE NOTES TO THE UPLIST VOTE

1. July 18, 2024: Ascend closes the $235 million senior secured notes deal Brill helped guide from the board.
2. August 27, 2024: Hartmann and Cassebaum are removed; Brill, Perullo, and Nemchenko take the operating jobs.
3. 2025: The $60.0 million term loan is retired with $50.0 million of 12.75% notes due 2029 and $10.0 million of cash; eight stores open.
4. August 12, 2026: Q2 results print $126.1 million of sales, 55 locations, and a live proxy for the reverse split.
5. August 28, 2026: Stockholders approve the split; the board, not the holders, will pick if and when to use it.

Of 203,033,639 Class A shares outstanding as of the July 7, 2026 record date, 113,702,839 shares, about 56%, were represented. The split needed a majority of all outstanding shares, so unvoted stock counted as a no. Holders of 112,305,378 shares, 55.3% of the outstanding stock, voted for it. Against: 1,391,090 shares, 0.7%. Abstain: 6,371. The board may set a ratio between 1-for-10 and 1-for-50, or do nothing. That authority runs until August 28, 2027, or until a national listing, whichever comes first.

In the same Q2 package, Ascend said it had filed with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to register certain medical operations under the faster path tied to a Schedule III move. Combined market share across its seven states rose about 5% sequentially, the company said, citing BDSA, and it held the number two brand-house rank by sales and units in Illinois, New Jersey, and Massachusetts together. It put 199 new SKUs on shelves in Q2 2026, after 566 in FY 2025, including High Wired infused flower and Honor Roll pre-rolls.

The 2024 bet was that a refinancing director, a founder, and the accountant would put the company back on its feet. They still have the keys. They have 55 doors instead of 39, an adjusted margin in the low 20s, and a cash engine that still prints. They also have a smaller year, a wider GAAP loss in 2025, more net debt, and a reverse split that is approved and not yet used. The next test of the same three men is whether 60 stores and a U.S. ticker do what the 2024 purge did not: grow the top line.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who Is Samuel Brill, the CEO Ascend Named in 2024?

Brill joined the Ascend board in May 2023 as lead independent director before the CEO appointment. He is chairman of Invacare Holdings Corporation, ran Seventh Avenue Investments for a New York family office, and has sat on the investment committee of NewLake Capital Partners, a cannabis real-estate firm. The August 27, 2024 release also lists earlier seats at Weismann Capital, Amedia Networks, and JDS Capital Management.

How Did Ascend Refinance After the 2024 Leadership Change?

In 2025 the company paid off a $60.0 million term loan by issuing $50.0 million of 12.75% senior secured notes due 2029 and using $10.0 million of cash, which it described as the close of a broader refinancing. It also borrowed $9.3 million against three Ohio properties at 8.5%, maturing in September 2030. Those steps sit on top of the July 2024 notes deal that Brill had already helped close from the board.

What Cannabis Brands Does Ascend Wellness Sell?

The August 2024 announcement listed Common Goods, Simply Herb, Ozone, Ozone Reserve, and Royale as in-house lines. FY 2025 added High Wired infused flower, Honor Roll pre-rolls, and further Effin’ gummies and vapes, and Q1 2026 brought a visual and quality overhaul of Ozone in Illinois, Massachusetts, and New Jersey. Simply Herb had already been described as the top-selling brand in Massachusetts in the FY 2024 results.

Has Ascend Wellness Completed the Reverse Stock Split?

No. Stockholders authorized it on August 28, 2026, and the board still decides whether to use a ratio between 1-for-10 and 1-for-50. The board may decline to split the stock at all, and the authorization expires on August 28, 2027, or when the Class A shares list on a national exchange, whichever is earlier. No action is required from stockholders unless the board moves.

Did Ascend Buy Back Shares After the CEO Change?

Yes. A normal-course issuer bid ran after a Q4 2024 repurchase, and the company said it completed the program after buying and retiring about 15.8 million shares at an average $0.32 from the fourth quarter of 2024 onward. An earlier Q4 2024 block of about 11 million Class A shares was also retired, which the company said was more than 5% of the then-outstanding stock.

Disclaimer: This article is news reporting and analysis of Ascend Wellness Holdings’ public announcements and financial releases, and it is for information only. It is not investment advice, a solicitation to buy or sell AAWH or AAWH-U shares, or a recommendation of any cannabis security, and it is not legal or tax advice on cannabis licensing or federal scheduling. Readers who are considering an investment, a listing-related corporate action, or any cannabis-related financial decision should consult a licensed financial adviser, accountant, or securities attorney who understands U.S. and Canadian cannabis rules. Revenue, margin, debt, store-count, and vote figures are taken from company releases as of the dates of those documents and can change in later quarters.