OSL Holdings Hires Former GLAAD CEO Herndon Graddick as Chief Marketing and Policy Officer
YARDLEY, Penn., May 21, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- OSL Holdings Inc. (OTCQB: OSLH) ("OSL"), a social enterprise dedicated to consumer advocacy, social activism and the advancement of civil liberties through the power of commerce, announces the hire of former GLAAD CEO Herndon Graddick as Chief Marketing and Policy Officer. Graddick is the former CEO and President of GLAAD, the world's largest media advocacy organization for the LGBT community. In his role at GLAAD, Graddick oversaw all programmatic, communications, public policy, governmental relations, fundraising, operations, and activist work for the group. During his three-year tenure at GLAAD, Graddick conceived and implemented historic campaigns, such as the successful campaign to force the Boy Scouts of America to end their discriminatory ban against gay youth, and introducing transgender rights into the mainstream conversation by working with the Miss USA and Miss Universe Pageants to change their policy regarding transgender contestants. Under his leadership, GLAAD oversaw media strategy for several successful state and local ballot propositions and initiatives around the country.
During his tenure at GLAAD, Graddick was also the primary liaison of the LGBT movement to Hollywood and organized the most successful fundraising events in GLAAD's history, featuring Madonna, Bill Clinton, Anderson Cooper, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Drew Barrymore, Charlize Theron, and others.
Prior to his efforts in LGBT advocacy, Graddick worked in Denmark as the Executive Producer of the Global Observatory, a media and communications effort conceived by former President of Costa Rica, Jose Maria Figueres, and Clinton Administration Department of Energy advisor, Aimee Christensen, to bring public awareness to the climate change crisis. The group's work centered around COP15, the UN Global Convention on Climate Change, in Copenhagen.
Previously, in his role as news division chief for CURRENT TV, a youth-oriented news and entertainment network created by former Vice President Al Gore and entrepreneur Joel Hyatt, Graddick served as the key point of contact between former Vice President Gore and Google Chairmen Larry Paige and Sergei Brin. Graddick began his career in the media at Cable News Network (CNN), where he contributed to the creation of daily primetime news programming such as "Paula Zahn Now" and "Anderson Cooper 360." Graddick is a graduate of the University of California at Los Angeles.
"With Herndon's social consciousness, proven track record managing large scale initiatives, and relationships with major political and social influencers, I'm confident we'll be able to capitalize on the growing industry and help make good policy doing it," said Steve Gormley, Chief Business Development Officer of OSL. "It's great to have someone with Herndon's background on board."
"Herndon's skill set in driving progressive social change through the media is perfectly suited to OSL's needs as we adapt to the rapidly changing regulatory framework in our sector," said OSL CEO Bob Rothenberg.
"The war on drugs is really a war on the American people. Cannabis prohibition laws in particular are wreaking havoc on communities of color throughout the country, and undermining not just those communities but all of our society in the process," said Graddick.
"In my activist work, I've seen time and time again that a major mover of public policy change is money and the power of commerce. Whether in its LGBT marketing vertical or in businesses supporting the legal cannabis industry, OSL is at its core a company that takes progressive causes and builds solid businesses around them. Our ultimate aim to use these businesses to help further social progress."
"I've known the management team at OSL for years. They supported my work at GLAAD. I'm excited to now have the chance to work together. We're going to do great things together."
About OSL
OSL Holdings Inc. (OTC: OSLH) is a development and technology company, specializing in affluent, liberal and libertarian markets with high disposal income, with a mission to advance civil liberties through the power of commerce. OSL Holdings' target consumers are highly educated, respond to cause marketing initiatives and socially conscious business models, and are technologically savvy. The Company announced its intent to enter the legal marijuana market when federal law permits, providing foundational work for branding, marketing, technology, and logistics to existing or emerging legal marijuana licensees.
The Company currently operates Go Green Hydroponics, a hydroponics and indoor gardening and cultivation retail enterprise, specializing in the sale of over 1,000 products including hydroponic cultivation equipment, mineral nutrient solutions and gardening resources and equipment.
The Company has developed and intends to expand Equality Rewards, a real-time loyalty rewards platform designed to advance civil liberties through the power of commerce. Equality Rewards can facilitate the earning and redemption of rewards currency at the point of the transaction (online, mobile, at retail) as well as on future transactions. Equality Rewards is presently focused on bringing minority and minority allied consumers together with businesses that support minority consumers and causes or are minority owned and operated.
The Company's filings with the SEC are available at http://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?company=osl+holdings&owner=exclude&action=getcompany.
For more information, please visit the Company's website at www.oslholdings.com.
Forward-Looking Statements — Safe Harbor
This press release contains forward-looking statements as defined in the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases you can identify those so-called "forward-looking statements" by words such as "may," "will," "should," "expects," "plans," "targets," "believes," "anticipates," "estimates," "predicts," "potential," or "continue" or the negative of those words and other comparable words. These statements include, but are not limited to, our expectations concerning Go Green's revenue growth, growth rates for hydroponically-produced food, the market for medical marijuana cultivators, and our ability to provide support services to marijuana growers.
By their nature, forward-looking statements and forecasts involve risks and uncertainties because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future. There are a number of factors, risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from forecasted results. For a discussion of these factors, risks and uncertainties please see our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Our public filings with the Commission are available from commercial document retrieval services and at the website maintained by the Securities and Exchange Commission at http://www.sec.gov. We assume no obligation to update or alter our forward-looking statements made in this release or in any periodic report filed by us under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 or any other document, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as otherwise required by applicable federal securities laws.
Company Contact:
OSL Holdings Inc.
IR/Media Contact:
Steve Gormley
[email protected]
SOURCE OSL Holdings Inc.
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