TORONTO, Dec. 06, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Nutritional High International Inc. (“Nutritional High” or the “Company“) (CSE: EAT, OTCQB: SPLIF, FRANKFURT: 2NU) is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Tom Siciliano as President, effective December 10, 2018, and Mr. Michael DiNapoli, who will succeed Ms. Agustina as Chief Financial Officer, effective January 1, 2019.

Mr. Siciliano joins Nutritional High from Canna Security America, where he served as President and Chief Financial Officer for the past last three (3) years, turning the company into the second largest security company within the cannabis industry. Mr. Siciliano was consecutively nominated in 2016 and 2017 as the “Executive of the Year” within the cannabis industry.  Prior to his most recent appointments, Mr. Siciliano had a distinguished career and an outstanding record of revenue and profit growth with a background in sales, finance and operational performance improvement initiatives as a senior leader within start-up companies, private equity and Fortune 500 companies with extensive public company experience. Mr. Siciliano holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Columbus University and a certificate in leadership excellence from Penn State University.

Mr. DiNapoli joins Nutritional High from family owned Clos Du Val Winery, where he served as Chief Financial Officer since January 2018. Mr. DiNapoli is a senior executive with over twenty (20) years’ experience managing all aspects of operations, finance and long-term strategic planning for a number of medium-size to large companies and spent the last ten (10) years exclusively focused in the wine and spirits industry. In addition, Mr. DiNapoli has extensive experience in M&A and capital markets financial advisory. Mr. DiNapoli holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration in Accounting from Pace University.

Mr. DiNapoli will succeed Ms. Agustina, who has served as Nutritional High’s Chief Financial Officer since October 2017. Ms. Agustina and the Company will enter into an agreement whereby Ms. Agustina will remain a strategic advisor and consultant to the Company after the transition period.  The Company would like to take this opportunity to thank Ms. Agustina for her role during an important transitional period for the company.

“We’re excited to welcome Tom Siciliano and Michael DiNapoli to Nutritional High as our new President and CFO respectively,” Jim Frazier, CEO of the Company commented, “Mr. Siciliano is a natural leader and a powerful team builder. He has an uncanny ability to connect key players to winning teams while using his knowledge and expertise to help coach along the way.”

“Mr. DiNapoli brings extensive financial, operational, and strategic experience to the cannabis space. This, combined with his deep knowledge of the wine and spirits industry and experience with high-growth companies, will be a huge asset to Nutritional High as we enter our next chapter of growth,” Jim Frazier continued, “We are further delighted to retain Ms. Agustina as a strategic advisor to the Company and look forward to her continued success with Nutritional High. She has been essential to the Company’s overall growth and will continue to play a pivotal advisory role in the Company’s financial success.”

Simultaneously, the Company issued an aggregate of 750,000 incentive stock options to certain employees of the Company (the “Employee Stock Options“). Each Employee Stock Option is exercisable at a price of $0.30 per common share for a period of five (5) years. In addition, the board of directors of the Company approved the granting of a further 650,000 incentive stock options (the “Incentive Stock Options“) to consultants of the Company. Each Incentive Stock Option is exercisable at a price of $0.30 per common share for a period of two (2) years.

The Company also cancelled 300,000 non-vested incentive stock options (the “Cancelled Options“) granted to a consultant of the Company. The Cancelled Options were exercisable into common shares of the Company at a price of $0.50 per common share. Each Cancelled Stock Option was granted on February 21, 2018 and would have been exercisable at a price of $0.50 per common share for a period of five (5) years, expiring February 21, 2023.