Board Members
Kyle Harris, Commissioner
Kyle Harris comes to the Cannabis Control Board from the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets (VAAFM), where he worked in Agriculture Development focusing on Emerging Issues and Economic Development. His work focused on dairy innovation, maple initiatives, and hemp business development. He was worked closely with Agency of Commerce & Community Development (ACCD) as a liaison between agencies to facilitate policy and economic discussion throughout Vermont’s agricultural portfolio. Most recently, he aided in the development of Vermont’s Agriculture and Food system Strategic Plan 2021-2030.
Previous to his role with VAAFM, Kyle served as the Associate Counsel for Environmental Affairs at the Corn Refiners Association in Washington, DC. In that position he represented 14% of the US Corn Supply, focusing on improving the environmental footprint at both ends of the supply chain, from grower relations to growth in plant-based products and 21st century uses for agricultural feedstocks. He has also spent time with Maryland’s Office of the Attorney General for the Dept. of Natural Resources.
Harris has a B.A. from the College of Charleston in South Carolina, and J.D. and a Masters of Environmental Policy from Vermont Law School. He has a license to practice law in Maryland. He lives in Roxbury with his wife Cate.
Julie Hulburd, Commissioner
With over 20 years of experience in Human Resources—spanning the private, non-profit, and public sectors—Julie brings a wealth of knowledge in organizational design, systems implementation, and regulatory compliance. This includes decades of experience in employment practices, workplace safety, health insurance, workers’ compensation, as well as risk and cost management. Understanding the strength in diversity, Julie has maintained a consistent focus on equity and developing inclusive policies throughout her career.
Prior to joining the Board, Julie was Chair of the Vermont State Ethics Commission, where she championed transparency, accountability, and fostering public trust in government.
She holds two degrees from Vermont State University: A Bachelor of Arts in Hotel, Restaurant, and Tourism Management, and a Master of Arts in Leadership Studies. Julie also holds two professional certifications, the HRCI-PHR and the SHRM-CP HR Professional.
She is active in her community, having served on the Colchester Recreation Advisory Board and briefly on the Colchester Selectboard. She’s currently involved with the Colchester-Milton Rotary, the Vermont League of Women Voters, and serves as a Justice of the Peace.
Julie enjoys skiing and camping with her family and cherishes time with her college-aged sons. On weekends, you might find her riding through the scenic backroads of Vermont on a Harley with her husband Jared or curled up with a good book and her two rescued pets—her cat Leia and her dog Kooper.
James Pepper, Chair
James Pepper currently chairs the Cannabis Control Board. Prior to joining the Board, Pepper served as a Deputy State’s Attorney for the Department of State’s Attorneys and Sheriffs. In this role, he advocated for and helped implement many of the criminal justice reform initiatives of the past five years, including expanding expungement eligibility and automatic expungement for cannabis convictions, Justice Reinvestment, bail reform, use of force standards for law enforcement officers, and raising the age of juvenile jurisdiction. He helped to create systemic and sustained change in Vermont through his work on the Racial Disparities in the Criminal and Juvenile Justice System Advisory Panel, the CHINS Reform Advisory Panel, the Juvenile Justice Advisory Panel, the Act 148 Working Group, the Marijuana Advisory Committee, and the Sentencing Commission. Pepper also worked for Governor Peter Shumlin as Director of Intergovernmental Affairs and Senior Policy Advisor. In this capacity, he developed the statutory framework of S.241 (2016), the first cannabis tax and regulate bill to pass either chamber of the Vermont legislature.
Pepper received his B.A. in Political Science from Johns Hopkins University and his J.D. from Vermont Law School. He met his wife Aly while working for the Democratic National Committee in Washington, D.C. After deciding they wanted to relocate to the best place in the world to raise a family, Pepper and Aly moved back to her home state of Vermont where they currently live with their twin boys Beau and Wesley.
Staff
Executive Team
Olga Fitch, Executive Director
Olga brings a wealth of experience from the private sector to her role as Executive Director at the Cannabis Control Board (CCB). She initially joined CCB as the Director of Operations, where she played a pivotal role in establishing the Agency's administrative processes, focusing on human resources, budgeting, and overseeing agency-wide IT initiatives.
Before her time at CCB, Olga served as the Administrative Director for a nationwide organization dedicated to grassroots organizing campaigns. In this role, she developed key operational processes and led the administrative department to support the organization's progressive initiatives across multiple states. Prior to that, she worked as an Operations Manager on renewable energy projects throughout Vermont.
Olga's extensive background in program management and human resources positions her well to lead the CCB with strategic vision and operational excellence.
Olga holds a M.A. in Diplomacy with a concentration in Global Commerce from the Norwich University. Outside of work, her passions extend to road biking, downhill skiing, and being her children's biggest cheerleader at their sporting events.
Gabriel Gilman, General Counsel
Gabe joined the CCB in 2023, bringing eleven years of regulatory experience at Vermont’s Office of Professional Regulation. At OPR, he litigated administrative hearings and appeals as a prosecutor before becoming the agency’s general counsel. In the latter role, Gabe managed the legal affairs of fifty distinct regulatory programs governing approximately 80,000 licensees. He designed regulatory antitrust reforms, led sunrise reviews of licensing legislation, helped to simplify administrative rules through standard of care-based regulation, and designed and implemented programs to reduce barriers to entering the professions, including by expanding experience-based paths to licensure, establishing a system for recognizing professional training attained outside the United States, and coordinating Vermont’s entry into interstate licensing compacts. He provided counsel to the boards of pharmacy, nursing, osteopathic physicians & surgeons, veterinary medicine, and engineering, among others.
Earlier in his career, Gabe was privileged to serve as Legislative Fellow to the chair of the New York State Senate Health Committee; trial court law clerk in Washington, Caledonia, Lamoille, and Orleans counties; and Chittenden County deputy state’s attorney. He is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire and the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Law. Gabe lives in the Mad River Valley with his family and a preposterously attentive Australian Cattle Dog.
Operations Team
Karen Schifferle, Director of Operations
Karen joined the Cannabis Control Board in early 2023. She brings 9 years of experience in various financial roles with the State of Vermont, most recently serving as Financial Manager for the Department of Forests Parks and Recreation. She holds a Bachelor’s of Science from Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. In her spare time she can be found hiking the Green and White mountains, gardening, or drinking tea while working through her most recent library haul.
Sonya Samalis, Financial Manager
Sonya joined the Cannabis Control Board in September 2024. She brings 25 years of business administration experience in both the public and private sector. During her time in the private sector, she worked in construction management and was the project administrator on some of the largest, most exciting construction projects in the state. Most recently she managed procurement for the Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time on the slopes and in the backcountry, taking in the incredible Vermont music scene and puttering in the garden.
Patrick Crowley, Outreach and Education Manager
Patrick joined the Cannabis Control Board in March 2024. He has experience as a journalist, including for VTDigger, where he covered the city of Burlington and other statewide subjects. Patrick is also a former firefighter/EMT who worked fulltime for the Burlington Fire Department and has previously served as a volunteer for various fire and EMS agencies in Vermont. He also has extensive experience in marketing and communications, having worked for 12 years for the marketing team at Bank of America. Patrick is a singer-songwriter and enjoys writing fiction.
Elizabeth Love, Data Manager
Elizabeth joins the Cannabis Control Board following her role as the LCME & CQI Project Manager at the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine. There, she focused on meeting accreditation requirements and spearheading continuous quality improvement initiatives in medical education. Prior to her tenure at UVM, Elizabeth served as the Project Manager for accreditation at Brown University, where she also held positions in IT, project management, and systems integration. Her diverse projects included designing and managing a faculty information system, providing IT system architecture consulting for Workday, and overseeing data and project management for academic program reviews. Additionally, she managed the Handbook of Academic Administration and contributed to IT and institutional research committees. Earlier in her career, Elizabeth worked as a system engineer at IBM and as an English instructor at Johnson & Wales University. She holds a B.A. in English from the University of Rhode Island and an M.A. in English from the University of Toronto.
Compliance Team
Contact: CCB.Compliance@vermont.gov 802-828-1010 ext. 5
Michael DiTomasso, Compliance & Enforcement Director
Mike comes to the Cannabis Control Board with over six years of experience as a cannabis regulator. Prior to his role as the Interim Compliance Director, Mike joined the CCB as a Compliance Agent, working primarily in Addison, Rutland, and Washington counties. Prior to Mike’s work at the CCB, he worked at the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, where he helped build the Hemp Program, and before that as an inspector for the Produce Safety Program.
Mike’s background previous to his work with the State of Vermont was in agricultural and horticultural production. Mike’s current work is informed by his time working as a cultivation section manager in medical cannabis, as a greenhouse manager for a four-season vegetable grower, among other positions.
Beyond work, Mike enjoys playing music and skateboarding and snowboarding with his family.
Nicole West, Deputy Compliance & Enforcement Director
Nicole joined the Cannabis Control Board in July 2024, following seven years with the Vermont Attorney General’s Office as a paralegal with the Civil Division. She has compliance and enforcement experience from her work on the AGO’s Campaign Finance committee, as well as civil law experience from her time with the Office. She participated in Vermont’s Law Office Study Program and was admitted to the Vermont Bar in May 2024. Additionally, she holds a B.A. in Psychology from Elon University in North Carolina and an M.S. in Law from Champlain College.
Compliance Agents
Amy Bacon, Compliance Agent
Andy Chevrefils, Compliance Agent
Denise McCarty, Compliance Agent
Christine Motyka, Compliance Agent
Alex Rioux, Compliance Agent
Lawrence "Chipper" Sullivan, Compliance Agent
Duane Tomlin, Compliance Agent
Licensing Team
Contact: CCB.Applications@vermont.gov 802-828-1010 ext. 1
Kimberley Lashua, Director of Licensing
Kimberley joined the Cannabis Control Board in August 2021. She has eight years of regulatory experience with the Natural Resources Board (NRB). In her role as Business Director, she was responsible for NRB’s budget, operations, and supervision of the administrative staff.
Prior to her role with the NRB, Kimberley was the founding Executive Director for Just Basics, Inc. As Executive Director for a new non-profit, she worked with the Board to establish the entity from the ground up. She also worked for a number of years in the private insurance sector, in Houston Texas.
She enjoys year-round gardening in her high tunnel, cooking and spending time at her family’s cottage. She lives in East Calais with her partner Bill.
Melissa Andersen, Deputy Licensing Director
Adult-Use Licensing Agents
Dominique Acilio, Licensing Agent
Heather Munzberg-Edson, Licensing Agent
Medical Licensing Agents
Contact: CCB.Med@vermont.gov 802-828-1010 ext. 2
Isabel Senter, Medical Program Coordinator