James Gude

As CEO of ShowGrow Operations & Management, James leads the strategic direction, growth, and execution of ShowGrow’s licensed dispensary partnerships. His work focuses on aligning real-world retail operations with long-term scalability, regulatory compliance, and sustainable financial performance. James approaches cannabis retail as an operating system, not just a storefront.

James has spent his career building and operating systems that support complex, regulated retail environments. Through ShowGrow, he has overseen dispensary development, operational launch, staffing strategy, and ongoing performance optimization across multiple markets. His experience bridges executive leadership, hands-on operations, and technical systems design.

James is the founder and CEO of Blackleaf, a cannabis retail technology platform built from within ShowGrow. Blackleaf was developed to solve real operational challenges faced by dispensaries, including compliant customer communication, retention, and data-driven retail execution. He views Blackleaf as the technology wing of ShowGrow, purpose-built to support modern dispensary operations at scale.

James’s leadership philosophy prioritizes execution over theory. His focus is on building dispensaries that operate efficiently under real-world conditions, adapt to regulatory change, and scale without operational breakdown. This operations-first mindset informs both ShowGrow’s retail strategy and the tools developed through Blackleaf.

As CEO, James leads ShowGrow’s operational strategy, partner relationships, and long-term growth initiatives. He works closely with construction, finance, technology, and retail leadership to ensure ShowGrow dispensaries are built, launched, and operated for durability and performance. His role connects execution in the field with the systems that support it.