In latest blow to agency, candidate picked to lead Cannabis Control Commission declines job
Photo I Courtesy of State House News Service
David Lakeman has declined the job of executive director of the Cannabis Control Commission.
The person chosen by Massachusetts cannabis regulators to be the next executive director of the Cannabis Control Commission has declined the position at the troubled agency.
The agency’s commissioners had voted 3-0 in late October to enter negotiations with David Lakeman, the former director of government affairs at the CCC from 2018 to 2020 and the current cannabis division manager for the Illinois Department of Agriculture.
Lakeman’s public interview for the role came the same day WBJ published an investigation into the CCC, which found widespread dysfunction, a toxic culture, and power struggles at the agency.
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In a statement to the Boston Globe, Lakeman did not disclose why he declined the position.
“After receiving an offer from the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission to serve as its Executive Director, I have declined the opportunity and will remain with the Illinois Department of Agriculture,” Lakeman told the Globe.
He was selected over Matt Giancola, who succeeded Lakeman in the CCC government affairs job, Marty Golightly, a retired naval officer who works as senior director of clinical staff affairs at Brooklyn-based Cityblock Health, and Travis Ahern, town administrator for Holliston since July 2020.
“The Cannabis Control Commission is appreciative of Mr. Lakeman’s consideration of our offer to take on the Executive Director role in Massachusetts and respects his decision to remain in Illinois,” a statement sent to WBJ by CCC Press Secretary Neal McNamara reads. “The commission is considering next steps for the hire, and any decisions to move forward will be noticed and voted upon as part of a future public meeting, according to the normal course.”
The next executive director would follow Shaun Collins, the agency’s inaugural executive director who resigned in July 2023. Debbie Hilton-Creek, the agency’s chief people officer, has been serving as interim executive director for more than a year.
Eric Casey is the managing editor at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the manufacturing and real estate industries.
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