Executive Management

Payton is the Founder, Chair & Chief Executive Officer of Numinus, and is passionate about empowering people to heal and be well through the development and delivery of innovative mental health care and access to safe, evidence-based psychedelic-assisted therapies. He has a deep understanding of the psychedelic industry from its infancy, driven by life-saving personal experiences with multiple therapy modalities. Additionally, Payton has deep business leadership experience, particularly in the finance sector, and is a recognized innovator and visionary in mental health care. He is responsible for raising more than $70 million for Numinus, and is quoted widely in media such as CTV, Forbes and the New York Times. In addition, he brings more than 15 years working in finance, investment and retail banking with some of Canada’s leading independent investment firms, including Jordan Capital Markets, Canaccord Financial and Mackie Research Capital. In these and other roles, he has raised more than $100 million for a variety of small cap companies.

Former/first Executive Director, BCLDB Cannabis Division. Successfully launched recreational cannabis operations in BC. Twenty years’ operations management, strategic planning, and execution with national and multinational corporations including Hudson’s Bay, Saks Fifth Avenue, and UPS. Seasoned, high-impact operations, product development, and marketing executive with a track record of driving performance excellence and profitable revenue growth.

Dr. Wood has published greater than 650 peer-reviewed scientific articles and made major contributions to the establishment of innovative policy and therapeutic programs. Early in his career, Dr. Wood’s research contributed to revision of international guidelines for the treatment and prevention of HIV infection among persons who use drugs. Subsequently led efforts that have contributed to the legalization of adult cannabis use in Canada, the establishment of supervised injecting as a standard of care nationally, as well as clinical therapeutic guidelines for a range of substance use disorders. Dr. Wood developed one of North America’s largest addiction medicine education programs and has been a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair and Professor of Medicine, and was founding Executive Director of the British Columbia Centre on Substance Use. As Numinus’ Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Wood is responsible for planning clinical research, protocol development and clinical strategy within the organization.

Experienced financial operator growing technology companies for the past five years, most recently as Managing Director of Invoke Digital. Prior to that, spent 15 years building international financial operations with companies listed on the TSX, NYSE, London AIM, and Lima Stock Exchange, the highlight of which was being on the founding team of Rio Alto Mining, a gold company that in three years went from exploration stage to generating net income of $100 million and operating cash flow of $98 million in its first year of commercial production.