Panelists
PANEL: STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS— A CANDID CONVERSATION WITH CANNABIS CONTROL COMMISSION CHAIR SHANNON O’ BRIEN AND COMMISSIONER KIMBERLY ROY
SHANNON O’ BRIEN Chair | Cannabis Control Commission Massachusetts
Chair Shannon O’ Brien is the former State Treasurer and Receiver of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, serving in the role from 1999-2002. She also served as a State Representative and State Senator, where she authored landmark legislation to combat child abuse, worked on economic development issues, as well as reducing the cost of health insurance. As State Treasurer, she led efforts to improve fiscal controls, accountability, and management, created a statewide financial literacy program, and led improvements at the Lottery resulting in an increase of $ 100 million in local aid to cities and towns.
Chair O’ Brien was the 2002 Democratic nominee for Governor of Massachusetts. She has also worked as a litigation attorney at Morrison Mahoney and Miller, an Emmy-nominated television journalist at Boston’ s WB 56, and CEO of the Girl Scouts of Greater Boston. She served on the board of a publicly traded investment bank in New York as well as a de novo community bank in Newton. From 2008-2010, she served as chair of the NY Pension Reform Commission to enhance transparency and accountability within one of the nation’ s largest public funds.
Chair O’ Brien was previously the founder and principal of the O’ Brien Advisory Group, providing strategic advice, government affairs, and business development services for cutting edge technology companies primarily in clean energy, healthcare, telecommunications, voting access, and financial services. She also brings experience working with startup cannabis entrepreneurs.
Chair O’ Brien is a graduate of Yale University and Boston University School of Law
KIMBERLY ROY Commissioner | Cannabis Control Commission Massachusetts
Commissioner Kimberly Roy was appointed to the Cannabis Control Commission in July 2021 by former Governor Charlie Baker. Since then, Commissioner Roy has worked on several notable projects, including a partnership with the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles, AAA Northeast, and additional stakeholders to create and implement Shifting Gears, a curriculum to educate teens on the risks of cannabis-impaired driving – the first of its kind in the nation. Commissioner Roy is passionate about educating the public about responsible consumption and youth prevention, and has penned several op-eds to this end. In her capacity as Commissioner, she conducts community outreach to senior citizens, local public health organizations, and other constituents. She is an advocate for cannabis testing standardization and data transparency, cannabis research, as well as removing barriers to veterans’ access to medical marijuana. Currently, Commissioner Roy serves as the duly elected Treasurer for the Commission and oversees the work of the agency’ s Host Community Agreement(" HCA ") Working Group, which reviewed and drafted the Commission’ s HCA regulations to comply with Chapter 180 of the Acts of 2022: An Act Relative to Equity in the Cannabis Industry. She is also the liaison to the research subcommittee of the Cannabis Advisory Board.
Commissioner Roy has an extensive background in public safety and substance use disorder prevention, having served the past decade as a member of the leadership team at the Worcester County Sheriff’ s Office.
7 • State of the Cannabis Industry Conference