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The commission is looking for someone who has experience working in regulated industries and a strong knowledge of Massachusetts’ legal marijuana law, and someone who is willing to seek the job in public.
The CCC met Tuesday to craft a job description for the executive director and lay out its hiring process. Resumes are due by Oct. 3 and the commission plans to conduct public interviews with between two and four finalists on Oct. 17. The CCC plans to vote on Oct. 19 to hire its preferred candidate.
“This is an incredibly important job,” CCC Chair Steven Hoffman, who is currently serving as acting/interim executive director, said. “We’re going to run an expeditious process to hire a full-time executive director but we’re going to do it the right way. It’s going to be public, we’re going to allow applications from whoever might be interested and we will do what we can in open commission meetings.”
The executive director job was not officially posted as of Tuesday morning, but Hoffman said he has already received at least a half-dozen resumes from people who want to be considered for the position.
Despite the early interest and the crush of resumes Hoffman said he expects to receive once the job is formally posted, he said he is worried that some high-quality candidates may decide not to apply because the commission’s interview process would make their candidacy publicly known.
“I am concerned. Anybody that has a good job right now has to think very seriously, with no guarantees that they’re going to get this job, about going public with this,” he said. “I don’t know how to estimate it, but I do suspect it’s going to have an impact on some people that won’t participate in the process.”
The decision to hold public interviews, Hoffman said, was made in order to comply with open meeting requirements and to fulfill the CCC’s mission of operating openly and transparently.
“Given the importance of this decision, it’s just the right way to do it in my opinion and in the commission’s opinion,” he said.
Once the CCC has applications in hand, Hoffman and Commissioner Britte McBride – together acting as the CCC’s screening subcommittee – will meet Oct. 6 to select applicants for initial interviews. On Oct. 11 and 12, the subcommittee will meet to conduct first round interviews and pick finalists to be interviewed in public by the full CCC.
The executive director chosen on Oct. 19 is expected to start working for the CCC by mid-November, Hoffman said.
