RI Senate confirms new Cannabis Control Commission chair

The independent state agency shaping the nascent cannabis industry is whole again, with a new chairperson confirmed by the Rhode Island Senate on its final day of the legislative session.

The chamber’s unanimous vote Thursday confirms Michelle Reddish as chair of the Cannabis Control Commission, filling the seat left open since October when former leader Kim Ahern resigned to run for attorney general. 

Reddish, who has led the state’s Cannabis Office since 2024, now transitions from operational duties to policymaking as chair of the commission. The $204,069 post is the only full-time position on the panel charged with regulating the state’s medical and recreational marijuana and hemp industries. 

Also Thursday, the Senate reappointed commissioner Robert Jacquard for a second term on the cannabis panel. Both Jacquard and Reddish will serve until May 17, 2031.

The upper chamber also confirmed one new member apiece to the Rhode Island Convention Center Authority and Energy Efficiency Council during its final session Thursday, and reappointed two members of the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation.

On Wednesday, the Senate gave its blessing by a unanimous vote to a new president and CEO for the Rhode Island Life Science Hub. 

Bob Cormier, a medical technology and healthcare executive, takes the helm of the quasi-public life science agency after its inaugural president, Dr. Mark Turco, unexpectedly resigned in March, one year into a three-year contract. Cormier, who most recently served as CEO of Swiss-American medical device company Sentec, which has U.S. headquarters in Lincoln, was picked by the Hub’s 15-member volunteer board following a nationwide search. As president and CEO, with a $295,000 salary, Cormier will help the three-year-old agency establish Rhode Island as a center for medical research and innovation, including through a first-of-its-kind wet lab incubator in the new state public health laboratory in Providence.

Not advancing on the Senate’s laundry list of last-minute confirmations: McKee’s pick for the Public Utilities Commission, and two other selections for the Energy Efficiency Council, all of whom drew concern from legislators.