BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Our Board of Directors represents expertise from across every segment of the supply chain, and is proud to serve as a unified voice on behalf of California cannabis. Board eligibility is open to Business and Executive members, and Directors serve two year terms.
BOARD PRESIDENT
CAREN WOODSON | KIVA CONFECTIONS
Caren Woodson is a nationally recognized marijuana policy expert with over twenty years of experience advising policymakers at all levels of government about transforming law and policy. Her unique perspective on managing compliance risk comes from her combination of employment with national drug policy reform organizations, licensed marijuana operations, and the State of California. She pioneered relationships with elected officials resulting in strategic gains for the cannabis industry during her tenure with Drug Policy Alliance and Americans for Safe Access; she lobbied early support for the Hinchey-Rohrabacher amendment, organized the first and only electronic dance party on Capitol Hill, facilitated adoption of medical marijuana laws in seven states, and played an integral role in the adoption of San Francisco’s landmark medical marijuana dispensary ordinance.
Ms. Woodson’s success stems from her ability to forge strategic partnerships. She guided favorable policy endorsements from the American Medical Association, National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, and American Public Health Association. Her collaboration with medical and scientific organizations led to the creation of the American Herbal Products Association’s Cannabis Committee and the subsequent production of operating guidelines which many states have used to develop regulations. She has advised marijuana industry leaders across the nation on license acquisition and regulatory compliance. Her ability to design efficient compliance programs and mitigate risk is informed by her previous work as an environmental regulations specialist with the State of California. Successful navigation of complex regulations and consumer expectations has helped her clients strengthen brand reputation and value.
Born in California and raised in Las Vegas, Ms. Woodson received her degree in Political Science from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and her Master’s Degree in Public Policy from the American University in Washington, DC. She is a natural resource volunteer, avid cyclist, and enjoys backpacking in the high Sierras.
VICE PRESIDENT
Zoe Schreiber | ZCBS Strategies
SECRETARY
Lizzie Spier | Halara Cannabis
Lizzie is the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at Halara Cannabis, a boutique craft vape manufacturer and brand. Since its inception, Lizzie has played a pivotal role in growing Halara from initial concept to where they are today. She has developed the brand's identity, packaging, and marketing strategies, and is deeply involved in product development, sales operations and business operations. Additionally, Lizzie leads Halara's events team, participating in large-scale consumer-facing cannabis events across California and overseeing retail logistics for direct-to-consumer sales.
As a passionate advocate for sustainability, Lizzie developed Halara’s vape recycling program that makes it easy for consumers to recycle their used vape devices and batteries. As an active participant in the California Cannabis Industry Association (CCIA), Lizzie regularly contributes to the Supply Chain committee and engages in various other initiatives to help shape the future of California's cannabis industry.
Before transitioning to the cannabis sector, Lizzie worked in the food, beverage, and hospitality industries, including liquor and craft beer. This background, as well as current roles, positions Lizzie to bring valuable insights into the challenges facing small businesses in California’s cannabis market. She is committed to advocating for small operators, promoting sustainability, and contributing to conversations around public health, marketing regulations, and industry growth.
Outside of work, Lizzie enjoys exploring the outdoors through hiking and camping, crafting culinary creations, and experimenting in DIY projects. She resides in Marin County with her fiancé, Trevor, and their two cats, Leo and Luna.
TREASURER
Michaela Sweatt | ALG Strategies
Michaela Sweatt is Licensing and Compliance Director and Chief Operating Officer at Austin Legal Group/ALG Strategies. She currently serves on the CCIA Board of Directors. Michaela delivers local permit, state licensing, and compliance services to a large portfolio of cannabis clients from small operators to large MSOs. She is known as a problem solver when working with local jurisdictions and the California Department of Cannabis Control (DCC). As a California regulatory compliance consultant Michaela assists clients by providing up-to-date knowledge of the laws and regulations that affect the cannabis industry so that cannabis business owners have the information they need to make business decisions.
Michaela is currently Co-Chair of the Agriculture and Manufacturing Committee of the California Cannabis Industry Association (CCIA) where she shares her expert-level knowledge of licensing and compliance while working with other industry professionals to provide input into proposed legislation, regulation, and best practices in the ever-changing cannabis industry.
Prior to joining the cannabis industry in 2017, Michaela was a product-launch consultant and entrepreneur. She co-founded Nurture Connect, a company that created a distribution and sales platform for digital health technology companies to launch their health, safety and communication technology products and services for healthcare professionals, senior care organizations and family caregivers. She gained her business experience at start-ups and Fortune 500 companies from Stanford Healthcare, GreatCall’s launch of the Jitterbug cell phone (now owned by BestBuy), Microsoft, Intuit, and The Walt Disney Company’s “Disney Interactive” software division where she provided her deep consumer insights into winning customer experiences.
Whitney Collie | Pacific Stone
As Vice President of Compliance at Pacific Stone, a leading flower and pre-roll brand in California, Whitney Collie oversees all aspects of the brand’s compliance.
Since 2019, she has entitled five properties, been pivotal to the acquisition of four, secured countless licenses, and guided key policy. Her expertise in compliance has been recognized in private and public sectors; The METRC program she developed at Pacific Stone has been used as training for regulators at both state and local levels.
Whitney also served as the President of CARP Growers in 2022, a local trade association formed by responsible cannabis cultivators in Carpinteria. As President, Whitney advanced community outreach on the historic cooperative odor agreement reached the year prior. She continues to serve on their Board of Directors.
Born and raised in Rhode Island, Whitney moved to California in 2015 with her husband and their pup Sally. She spends her free time enjoying the sunshine with her family which has grown to include a chiweenie named Moose.
Drew Miller | Jetty Extracts
Drew Miller is Chief Legal Officer at Jetty Extracts, one of California’s most successful legacy cannabis brands, where he oversees legal, compliance, and government affairs functions, as well as the company’s corporate operations.
Drew is a long-time public policy strategist on issues affecting regulated businesses, having spent over a decade in Washington, DC working on legal and regulatory policy at the state, federal and international levels. He has held multiple roles inside and outside of government, including representing a Fortune 500 company before Congress, and leading a series of projects for U.S. government agencies advising governments in Asia and the Middle East in developing regulatory policies and processes. Upon leaving Washington, Drew began advising California cannabis operators in advance of Proposition 64’s passage, helping to establish and advise dozens of nascent businesses upon the rollout of recreational cannabis in the state. In addition to CCIA, he also serves on the Board of the California Cannabis Manufacturers Association (CCMA).
Drew received degrees from Colgate University and The George Washington University Law School, and is licensed to practice law in New York and California. He currently lives in Berkeley with his wife and son.
Josh Wurzer | SC Labs
Josh is a cofounder and serves as the President of SC Labs where he is responsible for managing technical operations, research and development, regulatory compliance, and intellectual property. Founded in 2010, with facilities in California and Oregon, SC Labs is one of the longest running cannabis testing laboratories in the nation. Josh also serves as co-chair of the CCIA's Quality Control Committee. He has a background in analytical and synthetic chemistry and spent his early career in the pharmaceutical and electronic materials industries and has managed cannabis testing laboratories since 2009.
As a long time patient and cannabis activist, he is committed to the continual development of quality and safety standards for cannabis and cannabis products. Besides his role on the CCIA QC Committee, he serves on the U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP) Cannabis Expert Panel, is a founding member of the AOAC CASP advisory group on cannabis, and is a founding member of the American Council of Independent Laboratories (ACIL) cannabis committee, as well as other cannabis and hemp trade associations and committees.
Josh has served as a flower judge for the Emerald Cup and regularly presents his research with regard to cannabis chemistry at conferences and trade shows. Josh received his Bachelor's degree in Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin Green Bay.
Lauren Carpenter | Embarc
Lauren Carpenter is co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Embarc and Embarc Events. Embarc is one of California’s leading cannabis retailers and Embarc Events is a pre-eminent cannabis concessionaire, responsible for integrating onsite sales and consumption into some of the world’s largest experiential festivals and events including Outside Lands, Cali Roots and the California State Fair, among many others.
Lauren has spent nearly fifteen years working to advance thoughtful policies in highly regulated industries ranging from food and beverage to education and energy at the local, state, and federal levels. She brings this significant policy background to her role at Embarc, working to advance legalization in communities across California.
Sam Rogriguez | Rodriguez Strategic Partners
Sam is a seasoned policy advocate, public affairs and political strategist at the national, state and local levels of government. A frequent commentator and contributor on national and regional news shows and press. He served on the Hispanic Finance Council for Biden for President and later on the energy/workforce transition committee.
He started his policy career working for former Governor Bill Richardson when Richardson served as Member of Congress in New Mexico and years later in the U.S. Department of Energy as a Deputy Assistant Secretary for Communications and Education. At USDOE, Sam created the Community College Initiative - a award-winning, signature workforce program designed to train and educate students for science and technology related occupations.
In California, Sam was appointed to the highest levels of government by the Governor and Speaker of the Assembly to lead and reform workforce development programs. He also served on the Board of Directors for the California Employment Training Panel and served on the Newsom for Governor Workforce Development Cluster Group. He’s currently the Vice Chair of the San Francisco Workforce Investment Board and a Board Member of the California Board of Pilot Commissioners for the Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo and Suisun.
In the telecommunications industry, Sam served as the State Director for Comcast and led the west coast effort to integrate Universal Studios and tax reform measures to underscore its value with community benefit investments.
In the emerging cannabis industry in California, Sam drafted several provisions in the medical and adult-use state regulatory and legislative system to protect workers, social equity businesses and enhance local cultivation with farming incentives. He’s currently the policy lead for a trade association of cannabis farmers based in Santa Barbara County.
Since the 1990’s, Sam has traveled to several countries in Latin America under the banner of USIA and also to Cuba building bridges with the musical and artistic communities to support medical relief efforts. Global community engagement also includes Israel as a National Latino Leader with the American Israel Education Foundation. He also served on the Battleground Campaign Directors Team for Bill Clinton, John Kerry and Hillary Clinton Presidential Campaigns. Sam has a B.A in Political Science from the University of Texas at Dallas and is a member of Sierra Club.
Nicole Phillis | Davis Wright Tremaine
Nicole Phillis is a commercial litigator at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP (“DWT”) and co-chairs DWT’s Cannabis Industry Group. She served as the Vice President of CCIA. She has represented some of the largest brands, investors, and enterprises in the cannabis industry in a wide range of litigation matters, including supply chain disputes, trademark and trade dress litigation, breach of contract and corporate governance disputes, unfair competition disputes and class actions, trade secret actions, and defamation matters, among other things.
In addition to her litigation practice, Nicole advises clients in both the cannabis and hemp industries on speech, advertising, and compliance-related issues. She has written extensively on cannabis advertising and been featured on multiple panels based on her advertising and speech expertise, including most recently for the LACBA Cannabis Section’s Second Annual Litigation Salon (2021), the LACBA Cannabis Section’s Cannabis Advertising CLE (2021), and the International Bar Association’s panel on Cannabis Trends in the Americas (2021).
Nicole is also very active in industry advocacy spaces, serving as a co-chair for CCIA’s Risk Management Committee (2021-Present) and as an executive board member and former VP of Communications for the Los Angeles County Bar Association Cannabis Section (2019-Present). She focuses much of her pro bono practice on serving social equity applicants and licensees in the cannabis industry.
In her civic life, Nicole is an elected commissioner and past chair of the Santa Monica Rent Control Board, a municipal office to which she was first elected in 2014. Nicole has also served as a delegate to the California Democratic Party (2017-present), the Los Angeles County Democratic Party (2017-2021) and previously chaired Santa Monica’s Commission on the Status of Women (2013-2017).
In her personal life, Nicole is a dog-mom to three Golden Retrievers (Loki (12.5 years), Parker (11 years), and Georgia (7 months)) and a Maine Coon cat (Theo, 8 years). Nicole is also an avid Settlers of Catan player and won her first Catan tournament in 2021!
Aaron Markowitz | Nabis
I completed my undergraduate and law school in Washington, DC, and had experience on campaigns, the Hill, and political home offices. I worked in Finance for almost 4 years after law school, then in strategic operations at Lime. I’m excited to bring that background to focus on cannabis, and to help sculpt and promote a favorable legislative agenda for the cannabis industry.
My first foray into professional cannabis was in 2021, with a California retailer, and now as the GR and Compliance Manager at Nabis, having insights from both brands and retailers, as well as a distributor’s point of view, I can bring a wide spectrum of opinions within the industry to the table to help understand and advance our agenda. I look forward to helping leverage Nabis’ connections in the industry to build a stronger environment for the whole cannabis ecosystem.
LEGISLATIVE ADVOCATE
Dan Seeman | Principal & Founder, New Momentum Strategies
Dan brings over a 15 years of policy and political experience in both the Governor’s Office and the State Legislature. Dan most recently served as deputy cabinet secretary to Governor Newsom where he advised on matters related to corrections, public safety, and criminal justice. Prior to that, he was deputy legislative secretary to Governor Jerry Brown, and was legislative consultant to State Senator Mark Leno. Dan has also served as a legislative analyst at the California Air Resources Board (CARB) where he focused on climate issues, and began his career at the State Capitol as a legislative aide to State Senator Fran Pavley.
Throughout his career in Sacramento, Dan has been at the center of some of the most consequential criminal justice and social policy reforms in the State’s history, including raising the state’s minimum wage, the California Electronic Privacy Act, public safety re-alignment, Proposition 57, bail reform, ending life without parole for juveniles, ending the prosecution of children as adults, reforming California’s youth prisons, reforming CDCR and ending private prisons in California, eliminating a number of overused sentencing enhancements, authorizing earlier parole consideration for youthful offenders and establishing the CA Penal Code Review Committee, among many other legislative and administrative accomplishments.
Through all of these efforts, Dan has established himself as one of the go-to trusted advisors to Governors and Legislative leaders alike.
GENERAL COUNSEL
Henry Wykowski | Wykowski & Wood, LLP
Admitted to the California State Bar in 1976, Henry has been practicing law for nearly forty years. A graduate of Bridgeport University, and Tulane Law School, Henry has practiced law in both California and Louisiana. Before entering private practice Henry worked as a prosecutor in the Treasury Department specializing in Tax litigation, and later as an assistant United States Attorney with the Justice Department, as well as White House aide under President Carter. Before founding Wykowski & Associates Henry served as a partner at the Palo Alto based firm of Mohjer – Pooley.
Henry serves as the General Counsel for the California Cannabis Industry Association and the National Cannabis Industry Association.