WSLCB - Special Board Meeting
(June 1, 2023) - Hiring New Director

After a months-long search, a Colorado cannabis regulator was voted in as the new agency director to the satisfaction of board members.

Here are some observations from the Thursday June 1st Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) Special Board Meeting.

My top 2 takeaways:

• Outgoing Director Rick Garza announced his departure from WSLCB at the beginning of 2023, capping off a long career in State government, including a decade as the lead staffer at the agency.
  • On January 4th, Garza said after 40 years in “state service, and 25 years at the liquor control board, I announced yesterday that I would be retiring.” He began his tenure as director in June 2013, telling the public in his remarks that he was “always believing that…we can create a better path for those that we regulate, and those that we license.”
    • He’d previously mentioned getting his start in government “working in the Washington State Senate in 1983.”
  • A candidate search was led by the board, with Postman noting on April 12th, agency leadership had been “working with our recruiting firm Karras [Consulting].” 
  • Staff brought up the search at Garza’s final Executive Management Team (EMT) meeting on May 10th, where he relayed that he’d been named “Washingtonian of the Day” by Governor Jay Inslee during a Public Service Recognition Week (PSRW) event at the Capitol.
  • Two weeks later at a Special Board Caucus on May 24th, board members agreed on "Candidate A" as their top pick, and voted for Postman to undertake negotiations on their behalf.

• Board Chair David Postman named the incoming Director as Colorado Marijuana Enforcement Division (CO MED) Deputy Chief of Licensing Investigations and Operations William Lukela before a formal vote to hire him, and the board offered comments on their appreciation of the process and outcome.
  • Postman announced that the “purpose of this meeting is to take final action on the hiring of the new director,” and they were prepared to hire Lukela following “successful” negotiations (2m, video - TVW).
  • Postman asked for a motion regarding an offer to hire Lukela “for an annual salary of $170,000 a year.” Board Member Ollie Garrett made the motion which was passed unanimously (1m, video - TVW).
    • According to Washington State Fiscal Information on employee salaries, Garza was paid $155,300 in 2021.
  • Praising “some great candidates with a variety of backgrounds” who’d engaged in their process, Postman had been “really impressed” with the caliber of everyone they’d considered, but Lukela’s "energy and passion" showed through. Postman mentioned that Lukela would formally begin as director on July 10th, but planned to be present the following week “for the all-employee gathering that we have on Tuesday” June 6th along with his wife as they planned to move to the area (1m, video - TVW).
  • Garrett concurred that it had been an "extensive hiring process" but she’d been similarly "very impressed" by Lukela. She was “looking forward to now move on and with a new director and get everything going” (1m, video - TVW).
  • Board Member Jim Vollendroff was also happy with the move, stating their vetting process featured “comments from the public, we allowed staff internally to have opportunity to interface with the candidates, and I was extremely impressed with the overall quality and diversity of the candidate pool. I've been involved in a lot of hires of director level positions, and you don't always come out with the same quality that we did” (1m, video - TVW).
  • Despite many worthy candidates, Postman remarked that board members had focused on “what…we really were looking for and who would stand out there.” He thanked Human Resources Director Anita Bingham “as well as Dennis and Marissa Karras who we had hired to do the recruiting” for their contributions to the process. He said that Lukela would “start to come to a board meeting, and start meeting the public as well. Don't everybody pounce on him at once, but once he's in the office we’ll start helping him schedule some meetings with stakeholders and tribes and others to get to know people” (1m, video - TVW).
  • While not present at the meeting, in a WSLCB bulletin confirming his hiring, Lukela commented: “I am very excited to join my new colleagues at [WSLCB].  As the two pioneering states in the legalization of adult-use cannabis, Washington and Colorado face similar challenges. I will continue to build on the impressive work of the agency across all regulated industries and pledge to work collaboratively with staff and stakeholders to build their trust and support through transparency.”

Information Set