Alberta loves cannabis. Some argue it has become the centre of Canada when it comes to weed.

As of December, 360 stores had applied for a cannabis license to the province’s Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis agency. “Alberta’s done a great job in building a network,” said Dave Bigoni, chief marketing officer at Canopy Growth.

So, it’s safe to say there are a lot of players in the cannabis game in Alberta. We rounded up six leaders you need to know about in the province:

Alison McMahon

Alison McMahon, Founder & CEO of Cannabis At Work, pictured in 2017.

Based in Edmonton, Alison McMahon works as a cannabis job recruiter, and is the founder and CEO of Cannabis at Work. Created in 2015, the company specializes in recruitment, training, human resources and consulting. McMahon herself has a background in HR. McMahon has worked on the board of directors at Canadians for Fair Access to Medical Marijuana, a non-profit to improve the rights of medical cannabis patients.

Ashley Newman

Founder and CEO of Queen of Bud, Ashley Newman. (Instagram)

Ashley Newman is the founder and CEO of Queen of Bud, a popular retail cannabis store in Calgary that opened in October 2018. Newman is known for her quality product and solid relationships with her customers — a positive experience all round in her store. In an April 2019 interview with Vice, Newman said:

I just wanted it to be very glamorous

Newman herself is a medical cannabis user, and created Queen of Bud as “a place where a woman can go to feel comfortable and feel safe.”

John Barnet

Chief Cultivator for Aurora Cannabis, John Barnet. Cannabis Hemp Conference

Nominated as a master grower in 2019’s Canadian Cannabis Awards, John Barnet is recognized for his commitment to quality cannabis and excellence in growing. Barnet has been chief cultivator with Aurora Cannabis since February 2016 at their Mountain View facility in Alberta. He studied at the Canadian College of Osteopathy, is a nationally ranked rock climber and a professional longboard competitor.

Jason Marshall and Irene Struc

Co-founders of Green Earth Cannabis, Jason Marshall and Irene Struc.

Jason Marshall used to work as a welder in Alberta’s booming oil and gas industry, and ran a contracting company for over 10 years. He is also the president of Green Earth Cannabis, created in Calgary in February 2018  with Irene Struc, a former IT consultant and a yoga instructor. The couple, who are married, spoke to the Calgary Herald in December 2018 about their blooming cannabis retail business: “We went from basically nothing — just an idea — to getting to this point where we built everything ourselves and had a bunch of great people helping us bring all the little details together.”

Mona Pinette

General manager for a Spiritleaf location in Calgary, Mona Pinette. (LinkedIn)

Spiritleaf’s Mona Pinette was a nominee in last year’s Canadian Cannabis Awards presented by Lift&Co as a top budtender for her excellence in customer service, commitment to quality and knowledge of cannabis. She’s the general manager for a Spiritleaf location in Calgary, which as of November 2019, had 37 stores, 31 nestled in Alberta. She is also the winner of Spiritleaf’s Cannabis Concierge of the year.