Worcester Business Journal

4 Worcester Business Journal | November 27, 2023 | wbjournal.com C E N T R A L M A S S I N B R I E F V E R B AT I M AdCare CEO resigns "We are grateful for the leadership Brian Stoesz provided as AdCare Hospital's CEO, building on our mis- sion as an employer and provider of choice for the community. After making the difficult decision to unexpectedly step away from his leadership role, Ellen-Jo Boschert, American Addiction Centers' chief operating officer, quickly stepped into the interim CEO role." Joy Sutton, director of corporate communications for Tennessee- based American Addiction Centers, on Brian Stoesz resigning from Worcester's AdCare Hospital after less than six months on the job. The company on Nov. 13 named Andrea Dayotas as interim CEO. Pictured is Stoesz. Diversity in thinking "When you're thinking about innovation, one of our missions is to solve problems that matter. In order to do that, we need to have diverse groups of people in the room." Jess Lee, director of diversity, equity and inclusion at Waters Corp. in Milford, at Worcester Business Journal's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Forum on Nov. 16 at the DCU Center in Worcester Free college "Our employers are looking for graduates of Massachusetts' exceptional public colleges to meet their workforce needs, and those graduates are most likely to stay in Massachusetts. But far too many people are held back from pursuing the education of their choice because of high costs." Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, announcing $62 million in new funding for the MASSGrant Plus program, which will pay for free tuition for 25,000 students at the state's community colleges, state universities, and the University of Massachusetts BY ERIC CASEY WBJ Staff Writer A va Callender Concepcion, acting chair of the Massa- chusetts Cannabis Control Commission, started the Nov. 16 agency meeting by announcing that Shawn Collins, the executive director of the commission and the person most responsible for its day-to-day operations, will resign ef- fective Dec. 4, the same announcement alluded to July by then-Chair Shannon O'Brien. "Serving as the commission's in- augural executive director has easily been the most profound and reward- ing professional opportunity of my life," said Concepcion, reading from a prepared statement from Collins. "No matter what my future holds, I am confident that the ability to help create new government, while ushering in the migration of cannabis legalization in the commonwealth, can not be matched by other professional pursuits." Collins has been absent from the CCC since September, as he is out on parental leave. e commission named Debra Hilton-Creek, the agency's chief people officer who joined the commis- sion in August, to be the active execu- tive director in Collin's absence, passing over several more tenured executive staff members in the process. "I want to take a moment to thank Shawn for the incredible job he has done holding this agency from the be- ginning," said Concepcion aer reading Collin's statement, noting he was the longest serving member of the agency's staff. e three other active commis- sioners, Bruce Stebbins, Kimberly Roy, and Nurys Camargo, expressed thanks for Collins' work following the announcement. Collins and the agency has faced increasing scrutiny since July, when then-Chair O'Brien announced during a meeting that she felt the agency was in chaos aer Collins had told her he planned to go on family leave until December before then resigning. Collins later declined to provide details of his conversation with O'Brien, saying it was a private matter, but he later took family leave and is now resigning in December just as O'Brien had stated. O'Brien would later be suspended from her role as Chair in September by her appointing authority, Treasurer Deborah Goldberg, whose office has claimed O'Brien has been accused of wrongful behavior by commission staff and at least one member of the agency's board. Goldberg's office has repeatedly de- clined to offer more details on the exact nature of the allegations. O'Brien has pushed back against Gold- berg's decision to remove her, claiming her office doesn't have the legal authority to suspend her. In a September lawsuit filed in Suffolk Superior Civil Court, she made a number of claims against Collins, saying that she faced immediate hostility from him when attempting to schedule meetings and get up to speed on the agen- cy's activities. e lawsuit claimed a playbook exists within the agency to use baseless alle- gations as a way of forcing resignations from employees and commissioners, saying former Chair Steven Hoffman was victimized by these tactics. e suit seeks to force Goldberg to reinstate O'Brien. Aer the lawsuit was filed, Goldberg agreed to hold an administrative hear- ing with O'Brien to give her a chance to appeal her suspension and potential permanent removal from the role. e hearing was originally scheduled for November, but has since been pushed to December. e exact format of the hearing and whether or not it will be open to the public has not been an- nounced. Collins has been the only executive di- rector of the agency since it was created in 2017 to help regulate the newly legalized cannabis industry. He previously served as assistant treasurer and director of policy and legislative affairs for Goldberg, where he helped her office prepare for the rollout of legalization. After months of turmoil, Cannabis Commission leader officially announces resignation Shawn Collins, outgoing Cannabis Control Commission executive director W PHOTO | ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

• Cover