Cathy Lewenberg, Meredith Mahoney and Deborah Poole bring deep rooted digital brand and e-commerce experience; beverage alcohol legislative expert Jaci Flug elevated to General Counsel
BOSTON, MA (May 14, 2020) – Drizly Group, parent company of Drizly and Lantern, the nation’s leading alcohol e-commerce marketplace and first on-demand cannabis e-commerce company in Massachusetts, respectively, today announced three additions to its leadership team. They are Cathy Lewenberg, formerly of CVS Health, who will serve as Chief Operating Officer at Drizly; Meredith Mahoney, a veteran of Wayfair, named President of Lantern; Deborah Poole, another Wayfair alumna, who has joined Drizly Group’s board of directors. The company also named in-house counsel Jaci Flug, a regulated consumer products legal expert, as General Counsel for Drizly Group.
Lewenberg most recently served as VP of Digital & Omnichannel Business for CVS Health. Her deep-rooted expertise in e-commerce and its synergies with physical retail, and her experience building supplier relationships, come as major assets at a time when Drizly is experiencing rapid growth. Prior to CVS Health, Lewenberg was a consultant for Bain & Company where she led e-commerce strategy, growth and customer segmentation.
Mahoney is spearheading Lantern, which started operations this spring and brings online ordering and on-demand cannabis delivery to certified medical cannabis patients in greater Boston, with plans to expand throughout the state and nationwide in both medical and recreational cannabis. She brings years of retail and e-commerce experience, having founded and led several portfolio brands for preeminent online retailer Wayfair before joining the fast-growing omni-channel beauty retailer Follain as President.
Poole, Drizly Group’s newest independent board member, has tenure scaling complex technology organizations, bringing a unique perspective to operations and people leadership as Drizly deepens its roots in alcohol e-commerce and branches into similar highly regulated categories. Since 2019, she has served as Chief Business Officer for WHOOP, a consumer tech company focused on wearables. That followed a nearly 10-year career at Wayfair, where Poole ran and scaled multiple business units ranging from the launch of Wayfair Canada to leading Wayfair’s global recruiting efforts.
Flug assumes the role of General Counsel for Drizly Group after serving as Drizly’s Vice President of Legal, Regulatory and Industry Affairs since early 2019, where she has been instrumental in helping the platform expand to new markets. Flug formerly served as General Counsel to the New York State Liquor Authority, where she advised the agency on internet sales of alcoholic beverages and third-party providers, and oversaw the state’s task force on alcohol-related e-commerce. Her opinions while she served in that capacity provided validation for Drizly’s business model in the company’s early days.
“Drizly is pleased to welcome such experienced leadership in a time of significant expansion within alcohol e-commerce as well as our entry into the cannabis e-commerce space,” said Cory Rellas Drizly Group CEO and Drizly Co-Founder. “To date, the Drizly Group has been focused on building the technology and regulatory infrastructure to bring alcohol online in a legally compliant and responsible way. As we expand into cannabis and with the addition of such talented executives in key roles, we are well positioned to build upon our market leadership.
Drizly, which has seen exponential growth in 2020, partners with best-in-class local and regional retailers to facilitate online shopping and on-demand alcohol delivery across over 200 markets in North America. Consumers can shop a wide selection of beer, wine and spirits offered by a variety of local retailers by visiting drizly.com or downloading the app. Retailers interested in offering on-demand alcohol delivery can visit joindrizly.com.
Lantern, which launched in Greater Boston this spring, brings on-demand medical cannabis delivery to the state of Massachusetts’s for the first time, with plans to expand across the state and nationwide. Patients can set up a Lantern account by visiting lanternnow.com and entering a state-issued medical cannabis prescription number, for access to the product offerings of licensed dispensaries in the patient’s area for delivery.
