NEW YORK, May 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Northern Swan Holdings, Inc., an investment and operating platform focused on transforming the international cannabis industry, announced today the appointment of former Majority Leader Senator Tom Daschle to its Board of Advisors.

“Senator Daschle is a pre-eminent expert in health and wellness whose experience in healthcare policy reform will be invaluable to our company’s expansion in the global medical cannabis market,” said Kyle Detwiler, CEO of Northern Swan. “Having worked tirelessly as a public servant for almost 30 years to ensure all Americans have access to affordable health care, we look forward to working closely with Senator Daschle as he brings a similar level of commitment and dedication to medical cannabis.”

“As the conversation around cannabis has evolved, so should the policies. We already know many people in this country benefit from the medicinal use of cannabis, yet the potential of this plant is still mostly unknown. I believe it is imperative to loosen the restrictions on cannabis so we can research its properties and fully understand how patients can benefit from its medicinal use,” said Senator Tom Daschle.

Senator Daschle is one of the longest serving Senate Democratic leaders in history and one of only two to serve twice as both Majority and Minority Leader. In 1978, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served eight years. In 1986, he was elected to the U.S. Senate and was chosen as Senate Democratic Leader in 1994. Senator Daschle is also the Founder and CEO of the Daschle Group, a Public Policy Advisory of Baker Donelson, a legal and government affairs firm that advises clients on a broad array of economic, policy and political issues.

Senator Daschle is the Chair of the Board of Directors at the Center for American Progress and Vice Chair for the National Democratic Institute. Senator Daschle serves on the board of Edward M. Kennedy Institute and the LBJ Foundation. He is also a member of the Health Policy and Management Executive Council at the Harvard School of Public Health and the Council of Foreign Relations.

Born in Aberdeen, South Dakota, Senator Daschle graduated from South Dakota State University and then served for three years as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Air Force Strategic Command. After leaving the Senate in 2005, Senator Daschle joined Alston & Bird LLP as a special policy advisor and then went on to work in the same role at the DLA Piper before establishing The Daschle Group.

“Having first met with the Senator 20 years ago in Washington, D.C. after being named a U.S. Presidential Scholar in high school, I am thrilled our relationship has evolved to collaborate on a joint medical mission. It is great to work with a fellow South Dakotan towards the common goal of harnessing the medical benefits of cannabis through scientific research, and we look forward to working with Senator Daschle to help shape the cannabis industry,” said Detwiler.

In addition to appointing Senator Daschle on their Board of Advisors, Northern Swan also recently announced the successful completion of a $58 million Series D financing, bringing the total amount of capital raised to date to $96 million. These funds will be used to expand its existing Latin American operations, invest in new low-cost, large-scale cannabis cultivation and processing centers and build out distribution channels and brands in Europe, Latin America and North America. Northern Swan has invested in several companies spanning the global cannabis value chain including Clever Leaves, a leading vertically integrated licensed producer of medical cannabis in Colombia, Cansativa GmbH, a German cannabis distribution company, Lift & Co., a Canadian marketing and data company, and a national manufacturer and distributor of health and wellness products in Tempe, AZ.

About Northern Swan

Northern Swan is an investment firm focused on transformative investments in the international cannabis industry in geographies where it is federally legal. With offices in New York, Toronto, Bogota, and Frankfurt, Northern Swan invests in and assists emerging companies in developing low-cost production capacity and distribution capabilities to improve distribution globally and generate brand value. Prior to founding Northern Swan, its management team has collectively invested in excess of $3 billion of capital at Blackstone, KKR, and Och-Ziff.