Executive management

Yoko Miyashita was appointed CEO of Leafly in August 2020 after serving as the company’s General Counsel since 2019. Yoko has spent her career serving mission-driven companies navigating complex global legal and regulatory environments in order to bring meaningful and compelling products to market. An expert in policy and advocacy, as General Counsel, she led Leafly’s position on key regulatory, compliance and government affairs issues. She has focussed on progressing Leafly’s reputation as a trusted cannabis resource and leveraged an understanding of current cannabis regulations, and opportunities for change, to help scale Leafly’s marketplace.

Previously, Yoko spent 14 years at Getty Images, where she led the global legal team as SVP and general counsel. Prior to joining Getty Images, she practiced law with Perkins Coie LLP in Seattle. She holds a J.D. from the University of Washington School of Law and a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley.

Deidre is a seasoned professional with more than 20 years of strategic human resources leadership and change management experience across every phase of the employee experience — from talent acquisition and leadership development to employee engagement and succession management. Prior to joining Leafly, Deidre served as Vice President and Head of Talent, Development & Diversity for American Century Investments where she led the development and implementation of key talent initiatives and diversity, equity and inclusion. She also served as Global Head of Human Resources for US Pharmacopeia and has held senior roles at major financial services firms including Willis Towers Watson, Capital One, Ally Financial and Wachovia Securities. Deidre holds a Master of Business Administration in Finance and Organizational Behavior from the University of Michigan Business School and a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Hampton University.

Dave Cotter serves as Leafly’s Chief Product Officer and leads product development and engineering for Leafly’s array of consumer and business products. Dave most recently served as VP of Digital Products at Nordstrom after selling his text-based ecommerce startup MessageYes to the company in 2018. He was also a General Manager in Amazon Web Services and ran Amazon Associates, Amazon’s multibillion-dollar affiliate program. Prior to Amazon, Cotter co-founded Adxpose in 2004 and served as its chairman and chief executive officer until 2006. Dave has held product leadership roles at some of the most well-known companies in the industry, including Zulily, BEA, and Real Networks and was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Ignition Partners Venture Capital. In addition, he serves on the board of the Washington Technology Industry Association and The Foster Care Alumni Association. Dave has a B.A. in Economics from Oregon State University.

Suresh Krishnaswamy was appointed Chief Financial Officer of Leafly in September 2021. As Leafly’s CFO, Suresh is responsible for managing all finance operations and strategy, and leading the company’s financial strategy and expansion as a three-sided marketplace. Suresh brings more than 25 years of experience in finance and technology, having served in leadership roles at global companies and marketplace startups.

Suresh has worked with major investment banks, including Credit Suisse, Bank of America (Fleet Boston Financial), Credit Agricole, and Barclays. Most recently, Suresh served as a key advisor for NextLevel Business Consulting, where he developed vision and strategy for large companies in financial services and technology. Prior to joining NextLevel, he led the Finance and Platform teams as CFO at Drift, a renewable energy marketplace. While there, he established a financial framework for prioritizing and managing product initiatives, oversaw compliance, and led risk processes. He has also served as strategic advisor to a number of companies, including global digital payments services and Fintech companies in finance, strategy, and product management roles.

Suresh holds a BSE in Computer Science from the University of Pennsylvania, and a MS in Computer Science from the University of Texas at Austin. He is based in Seattle, WA.

Sam Martin serves as Leafly’s Chief Operating Officer and oversees all business operations, sales, marketing and business intelligence functions. Sam joined Leafly in 2015 as Director of Content, building Leafly’s award-winning in-house content program and establishing Leafly’s position as the leading consumer-facing editorial brand in cannabis. He has previously served as Leafly’s Chief Strategy Officer, Interim CEO (2018), VP of Strategy and Business Development, and Chief of Staff. Prior to joining Leafly, Sam led content production at Time Inc.’s custom content division, heading up flagship partnerships with Ford Motor Company and AT&T. He was previously a Lecturer of Creative Writing and Publishing Studies at Queensland University of Technology and holds an M.A. and B.A. from the same institution.

Laura Morarity leads marketing, communications and content at Leafly, which includes both B2B and B2C marketing, corporate affairs and PR, and the work of Leafly’s award-winning editorial team. She most recently led the global communications and sustainability team at Sonos, and has held marketing and communications leadership roles at legal marketplace Avvo and global communications firm Weber Shandwick. She holds an M.A. from the University of Kentucky and a B.A. from Murray State University.

As Senior Vice President of Engineering, Jeff Oberlander leads the technical vision for Leafly’s software development, oversees the product engineering teams, and ensures Leafly can serve the millions of annual visitors and thousands of retailers and brands who rely on the platform as a trusted and reputable cannabis marketplace.

Jeff is passionate about leveraging great people and technology to deliver value to the marketplace. A Washington native, he brings over 30 years of experience in software development, engineering, and operations, having led and grown product engineering teams locally and globally. Over the course of his career, Jeff has held roles at Boeing and Washington Mutual, as well as at startups including Pipeline and Navigating Cancer. Most recently, Jeff served as CTO at Pipeline, where he was responsible for global product development. Prior to joining Pipeline, Jeff served as Director of Delivery Leadership at AIM Consulting Group and was the Vice President of Engineering at Navigating Cancer. Jeff also spent nearly a decade at Getty Images, where he led the engineering development of Getty's website and revenue generating products including search infrastructure, UI, commerce, and web services.

Jeff holds a B.S. in Mathematical Science with a Computer Science concentration from the University of Washington. He is based in Seattle, WA.