Seven months after the chairperson of the R.I. Cannabis Control Commission stepped down, Gov. Daniel J. McKee has found a replacement.
But his pick for the role will create another personnel change at the cannabis regulator as the state plods haltingly toward issuing more retail licenses to sell recreational marijuana while dogged by three federal lawsuits.
McKee has nominated Michelle Reddish to take over as chairperson of the commission, a position that’s been empty since Kimberly Ahern stepped down in October 2025 to run for attorney general.
Reddish has been the administrator of the R.I. Office of Cannabis Regulation since being appointed in 2023, and the governor’s office confirmed that Reddish would leave that job if confirmed and an interim administrator would be named “at that time.”
McKee cited her experience leading the cannabis office and familiarity with the state’s regulatory system in his nomination. The cannabis office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Spencer Blier, founder and CEO of Warwick-based cultivator Mammoth Inc., applauded Reddish’s nomination after seven months. Blier and others in the cannabis industry have been eager for more licenses to be issued after a three-year wait.
“We need someone up there,” Blier said, referring to Reddish filling the chairperson role.
Despite having no chairperson since October, the commission’s two remaining members have been meeting monthly. But the work of issuing more retail licenses has been stymied by three federal lawsuits challenging the requirement that license holders must be majority owned by state residents.
In April, the two commissioners decided to appeal a court order halting the process of awarding 20 new retail cannabis licenses, on top of the nine that have already been issued since recreational sales were legalized in 2022.
Blier said the focus of the industry is less on the administrator vacancy that would be created at the Office of Cannabis Regulation with Reddish’s appointment and more about the legal matters that have stopped the licensing process.
“Right now, the biggest thing holding [the process] up is the lawsuits,” he said.
Reddish’s potential move from administrator – a job that pays $183,392 annually, according to state payroll records – to commission chairman – for which Ahern earned $204,000 annually – highlights a governance structure in which there’s a highly paid chairperson and administrators within the same small agency.
“This is not like a typical commission where the chair is a part-time or rotating role,” said John Marion, executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island. “It’s more akin to hiring a cabinet secretary than appointing the head of a board.”
That structure, Marion said, makes extended vacancies more consequential as the state prepares to expand its adult-use retail market through a lottery involving 98 applicants.
With the 2026 legislative session approaching its end, Marion suspects Reddish’s nomination had some urgency behind it.
Blier acknowledged that existing retail operators are often less supportive of rapid expansion. “They don’t want more stores,” he said. “They’ll say it drives prices down.”
That tension between cultivators and existing retailers has become an undercurrent in the state’s rollout.
Marion said those competing pressures make leadership continuity at the commission even more important, since the chair ultimately oversees how disputes over policy and implementation are resolved.
“This is not a ceremonial role,” he said. “It’s a full-time executive function, and the decisions made there directly affect how the market develops.”
