Leadership & Management

For years, Sarah Strickler kept her professional life in the cannabis industry separate from her role as a mother, weighed down by the “smell of judgment.” In this Mother’s Day op-ed, the Grown Rogue co-founder reflects on the 600-percent increase in incarcerated women since the 1980s and the double standards mothers face. Strickler argues that building a responsible industry requires more than transparency; it requires active repair, expungement support, and creating a future where the next generation inherits responsibility and pride rather than the heavy burden of legacy stigma.

When Sam and Joe Hachey secured one of Alaska’s first adult-use cultivation licenses in 2016, they had a bare warehouse, a tiny budget, and a refusal to slow down. Nine years later, Tanana Herb Company has transformed into a 48,000-square-foot powerhouse in Fairbanks. From navigating white-out blizzards to "playing chicken" with local moose, the Hachey brothers built their success the hard way: with their own hands and zero outside investors.

Women have always been part of the cannabis industry, but their influence is becoming harder to ignore as the business matures. From cultivation and compliance to operations and the executive suite, more women are stepping into pivotal roles and bringing leadership grounded in competence, collaboration, and long-term thinking. In a sector shaped by regulation, rapid change, and high stakes, those qualities are not soft skills. They are strategic advantages.

As the cannabis industry faces regulatory delays, capital constraints, and renewed political resistance, the Most Influential Executives of Cannabis Awards is expanding nationwide in 2026. What began as a local recognition program now aims to spotlight the executives whose grit, leadership, and staying power are helping professionalize the industry and strengthen its legitimacy.

Aaron Smith will step down as NCIA’s CEO on August 15 after fifteen years leading the cannabis industry’s oldest and largest trade association.

Women across the cannabis industry are redefining leadership, overcoming systemic barriers, and building a more inclusive, purpose-driven future.

GreenPharms CEO brings heart, hustle, and a fresh vision to cannabis entrepreneurship. Growing up in Los Angeles, Marie Saloum was no stranger to recreational cannabis. Even before California voters legalized adult use in 2016, the plant was everywhere. Her interest in medical applications came later, after her husband was injured in a vehicle-rollover accident.

A report released by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA, a division of the National Institutes of Health) in 2024 confirmed what many...

“The world would look like peace if cannabis were legalized internationally,” said Chanda Macias, PhD, a biomedical researcher, medical cannabis trailblazer, and passionate advocate...

The cannabis industry may be growing rapidly, but it remains a close-knit professional community where who you know matters. Ancillary businesses—also known as non-plant-touching...