Wall Street, then the shelf.
I spent about 20 years in capital markets before cannabis. Now I build brands into stores, one door at a time.
David Zelinger
Founder, Canis Major Partners
GM, Jerome Baker
Most of my career was the plumbing of finance. Derivatives operations, credit, the software that tracks a trade from start to finish, treasury. I ran operations as COO of an electronic swaps trading venture. Not glamorous, but you learn how money actually moves and where deals break.
Around 2021 I moved into cannabis and started connecting the dots between brands, licensed operators, retail and capital. From 2022 to 2025 I sat on the board of a vertically integrated cannabis company, which is a good way to see every mistake up close.
Since 2025 I've been GM of Jerome Baker, heritage glass from 1991, and relaunched it in New York as a cannabis brand program. Canis Major Partners is the company behind all of it. We do the brand program, the field team, the software and the deal structure, and we never touch the plant.
Bottom line, I'd rather own ten great doors than chase a hundred cheap ones.
Why Canis Major
Canis Major is the constellation with Sirius in it, the brightest star in the night sky. A handful of dots, connected right, and people have been finding it for thousands of years. That's the job. Connecting the dots.
Want to talk?
I read every message myself.