THE EMBATTLED CANNABIS Control Commission on Monday offered the agency’s executive director position to a candidate familiar both with the agency itself and cannabis regulation more broadly.

David Lakeman is currently the head of the cannabis division at the Illinois Department of Agriculture – a position he has held since September 2020. He is familiar with cannabis policy in Massachusetts and the commission itself, having served as head of government affairs at the Cannabis Control Commission between 2018 and 2020. 

The agency has been without an executive director since the fall of 2023 when Shawn Collins resigned from the post. The commission’s chief people officer, Debra Hilton-Creek, has held the role of acting executive director in the interim.

Following interviews of the four candidates up for the position, the commission quickly and unanimously landed on Lakeman. 

“I see Mr. Lakeman as someone who is well-versed in the Massachusetts cannabis industry but [who] also built an agency in Illinois,” said Commissioner Kimberly Roy. “Stakeholders want to see us move at a faster pace and want to see us get things accomplished. Government sometimes moves at its own pace, but having an individual that has already accomplished some of the things we’re trying to accomplish would be extraordinarily helpful. We have a lot of things we are working on and I’m thinking of the person who has full command of the issues and can hit the ground running.” 

Also up for the job were the commission’s current head of government affairs, Matt Giancola; the town manager of Holliston, Travis Ahern; and a senior director at a health care company called Cityblock, Marty Golightly. Commissioners were impressed with Lakeman’s management experience and familiarity with the Massachusetts cannabis space. 

The leadership structure at the CCC has come under criticism by the inspector general who has called for the agency to be put under receivership until the Legislature is able to clarify the difference in the roles of commission chair and executive director. The Legislature is set to hold a hearing on October 30 to gather information on alleged dysfunction at the commission.

There have been allegations that there is a toxic work culture and instances of bullying at the commission from those in leadership positions. 

Lakeman said he has kept up with the criticisms of the commission and that he knew about some of the leadership challenges even when he was previously working at the commission. During the interview, commissioners asked Lakeman about how he would deal with the reporting structure at the commission, where technically he would report to all five commissioners. 

“Ensuring that lines of communications are clear and there is a structure that mitigates and neutralizes some of the – if I’m being frank – nonsense that you guys have been dealing with,” said Lakeman. “This is manmade. This is not anything that we cannot fix. This can be fixed. About 80 percent of that is having a full-time executive director who can work with the commission staff to clarify where we’ve been and also determine what we need to do going forward.”