PRESIDENT

Dominique Mendiola serves as the Senior Director of the Colorado Department of Revenue's Marijuana Enforcement Division, responsible for licensing and regulating Colorado’s medical and adult-use cannabis industries. Mendiola began her work at the Marijuana Enforcement Division in 2014, where she previously served as the Division’s Senior Policy Advisor and Deputy Director. In July 2018, former Governor John Hickenlooper announced Mendiola as Colorado’s Director of Marijuana Coordination, where she provided cross- agency coordination and advised the Governor and regulators on Colorado's cannabis framework. Prior to joining the Marijuana Enforcement Division, she practiced law in Texas and Colorado with a focus in family law and medical and legal malpractice.

TREASURER

Adria Berry is the Executive Director of the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority. Berry is a licensed attorney in Oklahoma and Texas with extensive experience in government affairs and public policy. She was a member of Governor Stitt’s senior staff, serving Oklahomans as a policy advisor and counselor. During that time, she advised the Governor on cannabis policy, building on her previous experience working with cannabis businesses and attorneys as Vice President of Government Affairs for the State Chamber of Oklahoma. She was appointed as the first Executive Director of the standalone Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority on November 1st, 2022 and confirmed by the state senate in May of 2023 after nearly two years of overseeing the program. Adria’s goal is to ensure consistent and equitable regulation of medical cannabis in Oklahoma.

BOARD MEMBER AT LARGE

Kirsten Davis-Franklin is the Deputy Cannabis Regulation Oversight Officer (CROO), Legislation & Policy at the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. Davis-Franklin joined the IL CROO, which coordinates cannabis regulation and taxation across ten state agencies, in 2022. Previously, Davis-Franklin was the Legislative Liaison for the Office of the IL Lieutenant Governor. Prior to her tenure in state government, she began her career in government relations and communications for business trade associations like the Illinois Independent Insurance Association and the Illinois Banker’s Association. In addition to her role on the board, Davis-Franklin also serves at the co-chair of CANNRA’s Social and Economic Equity Committee. Davis-Franklin earned her Bachelor's degree in Business Administration and Master of Communications at the University of Illinois.

BOARD MEMBER AT LARGE

Nicole Elliott is the Director of the California Department of Cannabis Control. Prior to becoming Director of the California Department of Cannabis Control upon its creation in 2021, Elliott was Governor Gavin Newsom’s Senior Advisor on Cannabis at the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development. Previously, she was Director of the Office of Cannabis for the City and County of San Francisco from 2017 to 2019. Before that, Elliott held multiple positions in the Office of San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee from 2011 to 2017, including Director of Legislative and Government Affairs, Board Liaison, Director of Appointments, and Commission Liaison. She held multiple positions in the Office of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom from 2009 to 2010, including Budget Office Policy Assistant, Director of Scheduling, and Deputy Board Liaison.

BOARD MEMBER AT LARGE

Brian Hanna was named the Executive Director of Michigan’s Cannabis Regulatory Agency (CRA) by Governor Whitmer in December 2022. The CRA oversees the medical and adult-use marijuana industries, regulates hemp-derived products, and runs the state’s medical marijuana registry card program. CRA’s mission is to establish Michigan as the national model for a regulatory program that stimulates business growth while preserving safe consumer access to cannabis. Brian previously spent five years with the CRA as the manager of field operations, inspections, and investigations. He has a law enforcement and military intelligence/civil affairs background, having previously served as a criminal intelligence manager with the Michigan State Police, a Deputy Sheriff for Kalamazoo County, and a Captain in the United States Army Reserve with a combat deployment to Afghanistan in 2010-2011.

BOARD MEMBER AT LARGE

Amy Moore is the Director of the Division of Cannabis Regulation at the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, which is the sole regulatory authority for Missouri’s medical and adult-use cannabis industry. She joined the program at its inception in December 2018 as Deputy Director and Counsel and became its Director in February 2023. Before joining the Department, Moore worked in public utility regulation at the Missouri Public Service Commission, serving first a legal counsel for the Commission’s subject matter experts and then as legal and policy advisor to the Chair of the Commission. Moore holds a Juris Doctorate from the University of Missouri and Bachelor’s degrees in Business and Psychology from the University of Tennessee - Chattanooga.

BOARD MEMBER AT LARGE

Andrew Turnage is the Executive Director of the Georgia Access to Medical Cannabis Commission. Turnage previously served as State Director for the Georgia Secretary of State. He has also served as the Executive Director for the Georgia State Board of Cosmetology and Barbers, and as Executive Director for the Georgia Board of Nursing. Turnage is also a former Deputy Sheriff in Hall County and a graduate of The University of Georgia. He has been elected to the CANNRA Board annually since 2022.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Gillian Schauer, PhD, MPH was elected CANNRA’s first Executive Director in 2021, and served as a Senior Advisor to CANNRA before the association’s founding. Dr. Schauer has worked in public health and policy for nearly two decades, and has a decade of experience working with federal and state agencies on cannabis policy, data monitoring, and research translation. Through her federal work, she founded and led the Multi-State Collaborative for Cannabis and Public Health from 2014-2021 to foster learnings and cultivate best practices for public health across states with legal cannabis. Prior to working on cannabis policy, Dr. Schauer worked on tobacco control policy. She was the Senior Editor on the 2020 Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking Cessation.Dr. Schauer is an affiliate researcher at the University of Washington and has more than 75 peer-reviewed research publications on cannabis and other substances. She has a PhD from Emory University, a Master of Public Health from University of Washington, and a Bachelors of Science from Northwestern University.

PROJECT CONSULTANT

Sara Cooley Broschart is a public health leader with nearly twenty years of experience in alcohol and cannabis policy at local, regional and state levels. In her previous role, she led the development of a nationwide, CDC-funded technical assistance and training center for alcohol policy. Prior to that she was Public Health Liaison at the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board. Her experience includes advising alcohol and cannabis regulators on policy and best practices, developing innovative methods to engage community voices in policy making activities, building a statewide alcohol policy alliance from the ground up, and establishing a health network in rural Nicaragua. Sara has an MPH from the University of Arizona and has done extensive graduate work in Cultural Anthropology at the University of Michigan.

ADMINISTRATIVE CONSULTANT

Amber Virkler serves as the Administrative Consultant for CANNRA. Prior to this, she worked for the State of Nevada in administrative support roles across multiple agencies for nearly 15 years. Most recently, Virkler served as the Executive Assistant at the Nevada Cannabis Compliance Board (CCB) and is one of the agency’s inaugural staff members. During her four years as Executive Assistant, Virkler worked closely with the CCB's Executive Director in managing the work of the agency and was integral in the establishment of agency practices. Virkler holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of California, Santa Cruz.