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DARWIN MILLARD
CSQ Technical Director
Darwin Millard is a 17-year cannabis/hemp industry veteran, cannabinoid extraction specialist and policy change-maker. Colloquially known as “The Spock of Cannabis,” Millard has focused on the extraction and manufacturing of nutraceutical products containing cannabinoids for nearly two decades, helping companies “live long and process” by implementing cost-effective, purpose-driven phytocannabinoid processing and herbal product manufacturing solutions.
For Millard, the decision to forge a lifelong career in cannabis was an easy one. After graduating from the University of Colorado Boulder with his Mechanical Engineering degree, Millard’s options were to either design and build slurry pumps for the fracking industry or follow his passion and dive headfirst into the fledgling legal cannabis industry. Millard now specializes in mechanical and solvent based extraction methods for isolating highly volatile terpenophenolic secondary metabolites from botanicals, and his expertise has progressed the cannabinoid product industry forward. In 2012, Millard took part in developing the first legally sold CBD dietary supplement and he’s since worked in some capacity with every major publicly traded cannabis operator at some point in their business lifecycle.
Throughout his vast industry experience, Millard learned first-hand about the need for standardization within the cannabis industries. Not only are standards needed to create consistency across markets, but to ensure that the final product is safe for consumers and matches its label.
In 2017, Millard became an active member of ASTM International’s Technical Committee D37 on Cannabis, a group dedicated to the development of voluntary consensus standards for the global cannabis/hemp industry. Millard authored one of the first four standards ASTM D37 ever developed- D8245 – Standard Guide for Disposal of Resin Containing Cannabis Raw Materials and Downstream Products, which helps reduce the amount of waste generated by licensed operators. In 2020, ASTM recognized Millard with the James A Thomas Leadership Award, given to members who have significantly advanced ASTM’s mission through extraordinary accomplishment. He was also instrumental in the development of ASTM Standard D8441 – Specification for an International Symbol for Identifying Consumer Products Containing Intoxicating Cannabinoids, published in 2021, which establishes the International Intoxicating Cannabinoid Product Symbol (IICPS), the world’s first truly “universal” symbol, and authored ASTM Standard D8449 – Specification for Label Content and Style, Format, Location, and Prominence of Elements for Consumer Products Containing Cannabinoids, published in 2023, which outlines, among other concepts, how to declare the cannabinoid content in inhalable, ingestible, and topical consumer products.
Today, Millard champions the benefits of standardization as the Technical Director for Cannabis Safety & Quality (CSQ), the first accredited safety and quality certification program to meet ISO requirements and regulatory requirements from seed-to-sale for the manufacture of cannabinoid-containing products. In addition to his role at CSQ, Darwin is also ASTM’s Subcommittee Vicechair of D37.04 on Cannabis Processing and Handling and the Subcommittee Chair or D37.08 on Personal-use Cannabis Devices and Appliances and is actively working towards being the change he wishes to see in the world.
TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE (TAC)
To ensure transparency and involvement from the cannabis industry, the CSQ Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) is meant to make recommendations on numerous technical topics such as Certification Requirements, Guidance Documents, Audit Requirements, and revisions.
Tania Martinez
James Keyes
Jaclyn Bowen
Rafael Bombonato
Tyler Williams
Emily Lopez
Matt Regusci
Tania Martinez
President – Demos Global Group, Inc. Tania Martinez
Tania Martinez is the Vice President of an Officially Accredited FDA organization for the FSMA food Safety Program (Demos Global Group). Expert in Product Regulatory Compliance, Food Safety and Preventive Control for Food, fish, seafood and fishery products, Dietary Supplements. PhD in Food Safety. Juris Doctor Degree in the State of Florida and Spain. 30 years of experience in Good Manufacturer Practices Manual, food, fish, seafood and fishery products and dietary supplement product safety, ingredients, import’s regulations to the US. ToT for HF, PSA Lead Trainer for PSA, TTT for the Fish, Seafood and Fishery Alliance-FDA, LI for AF, SA, TTT for the International HACCP Alliance, BPCS. Invite Professor at several universities in Latin America and Europe. Off Counsel of Several regional and local governments in Europe.
James Keyes
Since 2012 I have been providing expertise on operational improvements, quality assurance and compliance requirements to cannabis operations . My work has resulted in over 2 Million Square Feet of cultivation permits in California to date, 10 International license acquisitions during my tenure as International Compliance Director with a Canadian Public Issuer, as well as the founding and creation of a first to market cannabis Emoji app with over 1 million mobile to mobile impressions across 27 countries.
My experience has shown me that proven methods and systems work; ones that have been developed effectively through years of implementing efficient and repeatable operations, based on defined quality principles, from small scale to commercial operations. I have seen facilities through the lens of auditing existing procedures, as well as through the lens of implementing new systems from scratch. I help save clients time and money on operations, both pre-op during permit acquisition and post-op through quality assurance system implementation.
My work on multiple technical advisory committees has helped me understand the best practices being implemented, and the landscape of future trends related to quality assurance standards, food safety practices, and cannabis operations. My committee and advisory work includes: Appointed in 2014 to serve as U.S. Cannabis Advisor to Canadian CSE listed company, Elected to the U.S. TAG (ISO/TC) 207 (TAG 207) on Environmental Management & The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) ANSI Accredited Standards Committee (ASC) Z1 to document consensus on proposed American National Standards (ANS) in the field of Environmental Management, and Elected to the Cannabis Technical Advisory Committee for SQF International Food Safety Standard in 2019.
Jaclyn Bowen
Executive Director, Clean Label Project (Co-Chair)
Jaclyn Bowen MPH, MS is a food and consumer product quality and safety systems engineer and executive director of Clean Label Project, a national non-profit and standards organization with the mission to bring truth and transparency to food and consumer product labeling. Through data, science, and benchmarking, Clean Label Project uses retail sampling and testing to benchmark product quality and purity of America’s best-selling food and consumer products, conduct consumer investigations and peer-reviewed studies, and award Clean Label Project’s coveted evidence-based Purity Award. Before Clean Label Project, Jackie worked for the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre, NSF International, on food safety and water quality standards for 15 years. Jackie holds a Bachelor of Science in environmental biology, a Master of Science in quality engineering, and a Master of Public Health in management and policy.
Rafael Bombonato
Chief Compliance Officer, Green Scientific Labs
Rafael Bombonato is the Chief Compliance Officer at Green Scientific Labs, a cannabis testing laboratory located in the Ft. Lauderdale – FL where he is responsible for the Compliance and Quality departments. Previously, Rafael served as Corporate Quality Manager at Curaleaf, a vertically integrated medical cannabis company headquartered at Wakefield – MA, where he started as Quality and Compliance Manager for Curaleaf FL and then migrated his expertise to the corporate level, where he managed the Quality Control laboratories, quality initiatives in manufacturing and cultivation, and support of Regulatory Submissions for Curaleaf nationwide. Rafael’s is dedicated to product quality, safety, and efficacy. His thorough experience in Quality Management Systems allowed him to successfully design and implement the Quality Management Systems that awarded Curaleaf Florida, LLC. the first SQF Level II certificate in the industry. Previously, Rafael served as Quality Assurance Analyst and Auditor at Teva Pharmaceuticals, as a QA Supervisor and Senior Microbiologist at Nature’s Bounty, and a Microbiologist for R.L. Schreiber. Rafael has over 10 years of quality assurance and product safety experience in the food, dietary supplement, pharmaceutical, and for the last four years in the Medical Cannabis industry. Rafael holds a bachelor’s degree in Molecular Biology, Microbiology, and Biotechnology and a master’s degree in Business Administration. Rafael is also a Quality Auditor, HACCP trained, SQF Practitioner, and is involved in policy, regulation, and guideline development throughout all aspects of the Cannabis industry.
Tyler Williams
Tyler Williams is the founder of Cannabis Safety & Quality (CSQ). Over the years Tyler has diligently worked with various industry stakeholders and conducted sample audits on several cannabis cultivators and manufacturers to ensure the CSQ audit requirements meet the needs of this new and booming industry. In addition to being a part of the NCIA, Tyler is also involved with the Florida Hemp Council and the National Industrial Hemp Council.
In 2019, Tyler started a non-profit organization called Show Me Food Safety. This organization provides resources to small food manufacturers and growers in Missouri to help improve their food safety practices and get on the shelves of local grocery stores.
Emily Lopez
Quality Systems Director, Cresco Labs
Emily is a quality and food safety professional with more than 15 years of experience in quality systems and auditing and more than 10 years of food experience. She has experience implementing and auditing many different standards including SQF, FSSC 22000, ISO 9001, etc.
Prior to joining Cresco Labs, Emily worked for a couple large food manufacturers in positions such as a corporate quality contact for all plants in North America, Corporate Quality and Food Safety Auditor (including internal audits and supplier audits) and most recently as a plant quality manager.
Emily is an ASQ Certified Auditor and ASQ Certified Food Safety Auditor, HACCP Certified and an SQF Practitioner.
Matt Regusci
Matt Regusci has a long career in the auditing world. He co-founded Azzule, an online compliance supply chain data management company, which is the parent company of PrimusGFS.
After Azzule, Regusci became an owner at WQS, a certification body that does thousands of audits annually across the Western Hemisphere.
As a father of seven kids, Regusci understands the value of safe quality product and has made it his life’s mission to provide compliance transparency within the world’s supply chain.
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