Marijuana Business Magazine - April 2018

T he past few months have been rough for the National Cannabis Industry Associa- tion and its executive director, Aaron Smith. Since December, two board members have resigned from NCIA, the larg- est and longest-running national trade association in the marijuana industry. Another board member – legalization advocate Rob Kampia – was ousted after an ethics investigation into sexual misconduct allegations. Also, NCIA’s chief of staff was fired in December less than six weeks after she was hired. NCIA and Smith also have faced high-profile criticism. Kayvan Khalatbari – who formerly owned a medical cannabis dispensary that was an original NCIA member – quit the board in January. He blasted Smith’s leadership and called NCIA ineffective. Khalatbari, who was on the board for three years and considered himself a good friend of Smith, said NCIA had lost the industry’s respect and that the organization could suffer “irreparable damage.” “There was a point about two years ago when we stopped being as effective as we should have,” Khalatbari, now a Denver cannabis consultant, said in an interview in January. “We’ve been spin- ning our wheels since then.” Former NCIA chief of staff Genifer Murray, who became a member in 2011 and at one time was friends with Smith, also blamed the executive director for dysfunction in NCIA. In a letter to the board after being fired at the end of 2017, Murray accused him of favorit- ism and a lack of leadership, adding that NCIA suffers from low morale and a lack of trust within the organization. After co-founding NCIA in late 2010, Smith and his organiza- tion are at a crossroads. The coming months could prove pivotal. To be sure, NCIA has racked up many successes along the way and can now boast of EXECUTIVE SUMMARY As executive director of the National Cannabis Industry Association, Aaron Smith has been facing criticism about his leadership as well as turmoil. Board members resigned or were removed, and the chief of staff was fired. Smith and the NCIA stand at a crossroads as he attempts to move the group in a new direction. Along the way, Smith has learned important lessons: • You can’t reinvent the wheel. When he launched the group, Smith could have gathered valuable insights from older trade associations rather than mistakenly thinking NCIA was unique. • Having a large board can make it harder to run NCIA. • He should have acted sooner to foster better ties with state cannabis trade groups. • Friendships can complicate matters. Smith has made close friends through NCIA; but that has created difficulties when it’s time to make tough decisions that affect the organization he leads. • It pays to think ahead. Smith should have better anticipated the cannabis industry’s rapid growth and structured NCIA accordingly. Genifer Murray briefly served as NCIA’s chief of staff before she was fired in December. 52 • Marijuana Business Magazine • April 2018