Zack Hutson brings 15+ years' experience working in close partnership with entrepreneurial founders, visionary investors, public company CEOs, world-class boards of directors, disruptive causes, and iconic brands to create transformative change within their organizations, local communities, and society as a whole. As head of communications for the Schultz Family Foundation and emes project LLC, he is working to advance both organizations’ shared mission of creating greater opportunity, accessible to all. Zack and his team focus on aspirational storytelling, advocacy, brand partnerships, and investments in films, series, podcasts, and other content projects linked to the Schultz Family Foundation’s programmatic work and philanthropic grantmaking.

Previously, Zack led corporate affairs for Privateer Holdings, Inc., the first private equity firm to invest exclusively in the legal cannabis industry during a period of rapid growth and policy change. As a member of the executive management team, Zack worked in close partnership with the firm’s co-founders to build a leading portfolio of mainstream brands from their earliest days to successful exits, including two of the first cannabis companies to list on a major U.S. stock exchange: Tilray (NASDAQ:TLRY) and Leafly (NASDAQ:LFLY). At Privateer, Zack was responsible for brand stewardship, communications, and investor relations, as well as policy advocacy in multiple U.S. states and more than a dozen countries around the world.

Prior to Privateer, Zack served as director of global corporate communications at Starbucks Coffee Company leading business and financial communications, crisis and issues management, and public affairs across Latin America. Earlier in his career, Zack managed accounts for global brands, trades associations and a foreign government at two of the world’s leading public relations agencies: Edelman in San Francisco and APCO Worldwide in Washington D.C.

Zack graduated summa cum laude from The George Washington University with a B.A. in Political Communication. He lives in Seattle.