Worcester Business Journal

4 Worcester Business Journal | September 8, 2025 | wbjournal.com BY ERIC CASEY WBJ Managing Editor C edric Sinclair, former chief communications officer at the Massachusetts Canna- bis Control Commission, has reached a settlement agreement worth $304,591 over his departure from the CCC, with the agency preparing to release a statement thanking him for his service. e settlement comes following Sin- clair's suspension and later termination from the agency, with the legal agreement removing the punitive actions of his sus- pension and firing and allowing him to be vested in the state's pension plan. "Mr. Cedric Sinclair has notified the Cannabis Control Commission of his intention to resign from his role as chief communications officer with immediate effect," the statement, included as an ex- hibit in the settlement agreement, reads. "Mr. Sinclair is one of the Commission's inaugural staff members and was part of the team that helped to steer the agency from its initial startup days to the mature agency it is today with over 140 employees overseeing a vibrant $8-bil- lion cannabis industry in Massachusetts. We thank Mr. Sinclair for his service to the Commonwealth, and we wish him well in his future endeavors." Sinclair's settlement brings the total spent by CCC to resolve employee com- plaints to about $1.5 million since July 2023, according to a WBJ review of state records. at spending includes money for outside counsel, mediations, settle- I N B R I E F Credit union CEO "I am incredibly humbled by the opportunity to lead an organi- zation with such an outstanding reputation, which has outper- formed its peers by prioritizing its members." Grace Lee, former executive with M&T Bank, on becoming the new president and CEO of St. Mary's Credit Union in Marlborough Research award "Better laboratory models for pancreatic, skin, and uterine fibroid tissues could lead to an improved understanding of factors at the cellular level that lead to fibrosis and how interventions could interrupt or reverse that process." Catherine Whittington, a researcher at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, on receiving $629,998 CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation to study fibrosis in the pancreas, skin, and uterine fibroids Moving HQ to NC "This new facility allows us to not only scale production of our high- performance barrier coatings for textiles and packaging but also apply them directly." David Zamarin, CEO of Framingham-based DetraPel, on his company moving its headquarters to a 40,000-square-foot facility in Charlotte, North Carolina CCC reaches $305K settlement with former communications chief ments, and suspended employee's pay. "e settlement is a public vindication that underscores a toxic culture of retaliation and corruption at the Can- nabis Control Commis- sion," Sinclair wrote in an email to WBJ. "Staff were pressured to violate state conflict-of-interest laws during the Green- field Greenery investi- gation, and facts were misrepresented to the public through inten- tionally flawed human resources investigations, personnel leaks, and other mismanagement and abuse in the human resources office. Until there is accountability, the com- mission will remain a cautionary tale to the entire nation." e settlement amount is just under two-years worth of pay for Sinclair, who had an annual pay rate of $161,244 in 2023, according to state payroll data. e payment involves $42,591 in attorney fees and $262,000 in a lump-sum pay- ment, according to the document. e agreement was signed by CCC Executive Director Travis Ahern on Aug. 21, with Sinclair signing four days later. Sinclair had been suspended in De- cember 2023, continuing to be paid until he le the agency in January 2025, with the settlement making his exit official. Like the agreement signed by former CCC employee Meghan Dube that WBJ reported on August 28, Sinclair's agree- ment sees him drop claims filed against CCC with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. CCC denied any liabilities for the claims in both agreements, again saying it was the best course of action to avoid the cost and uncertainty of litigation. Sinclair had faced allegations of mistreatment and bullying from three anonymous former CCC staffers in a June 2024 article from WBUR and from current CCC Chief of Research Julie Johnson in a 2024 Boston Globe article. An investigation of Johnson's allega- tions found insufficient evidence that Sinclair violated bullying policies, with Johnson saying that investi- gation was not thorough, ac- cording to Globe reporting. Sinclair has also drawn the ire of CCC Chair Shannon O'Brien, with the com- plaints and cross-complaints between O'Brien and Sinclar being investigated in a report by Kimberly Jones, of Boston-based Athena Legal Strategies Group. Jones had been engaged by Morgan, Brown and Joy, a Boston-based law firm CCC frequently leans on, to conduct an internal inves- tigation on behalf of CCC. e report was published by CommonWealth Beacon in September 2024 and was included in over 3000 pages released by the courts in connection to the ongo- ing legal battle between O'Brien and State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg over O'Brien's firing. O'Brien has since been reinstated to her role. e investigation found O'Brien made inappropriate remarks regarding the professional work relationship between then-commissioner Nurys Camargo and Sinclair. It found insufficient evidence O'Brien bullied Sinclair over his race and insufficient evidence Sinclair bullied O'Brien regarding her gender. "e allegations that I bullied or mis- treated women staff are patently false, and they reflect the retaliatory envi- ronment that I described in my MCAD complaint," Sinclair wrote to WBJ. The state Cannabis Control Commission is headquartered in Worcester's Union Station. W

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