Who We Are

Alison Park - Founder

Ali Park is one of the longest-serving and foremost national experts in regulatory analysis and licensing in the state-legal cannabis industry, specializing in assisting cannabis business operators and policymakers to pursue cannabis policy reform and expand access to quality cannabis in a range of states and communities across the country. She is a leading expert in interpreting cannabis regulations, ensuring operational compliance with applicable program and state-imposed requirements, and developing operational plans that ensure success with absolute regulatory compliance. Her work in cannabis business licensing and inspection and audit preparation has resulted in over 60 new businesses entering the legal cannabis industry, with several of those businesses thriving under their state’s current medical and adult use cannabis programs.

Ali got her start in the cannabis industry in 2007 when she was elected as the first female Board Chair of Students for Sensible Drug Policy while finishing her undergraduate studies at Roosevelt University. After graduation, she ventured to California to oversee licensing operations for one of the first cannabis industry consultancies, CannBe, founded by the principals of several well-regarded Bay Area dispensaries such as Harborside and SPARC and national drug policy expert Kris Krane. She was instrumental in interpreting cannabis ordinances and complex requirements to assist clients in developing successful operational plans for local permits in the emerging California medical market at the time.

CannBe was later acquired by 4Front Advisors, where Ali subsequently spent seven years directing their licensing and regulation division. In that role, she assisted dispensary operators and policymakers to pursue medical cannabis policy reform and became one of the nation’s leading regulatory experts. Ali led or supported application processes for more than 60 winning applications for applicants in Massachusetts, Arizona, Nevada, Rhode Island, Illinois, Nevada, Maryland, Arkansas, Pennsylvania, and California, including the local municipalities of Malibu, Richmond, and Napa. After leaving 4Front, Ali oversaw licensing, regulation, and compliance operations for several multi-state operators including The Pharm/Sunday Goods and Ascend Wellness.

Alongside her executive leadership role in the cannabis industry, Ali has been a key player in cannabis social justice reform for over a decade, working to achieve drug policy changes on a local and federal level through legislative action, sensible drug education, and harm reduction. She regularly sits on public panels to discuss and promote the safe and responsible access of cannabis products to communities throughout her home state. She has worked as a researcher for the Illinois Consortium on Drug Policy, where she authored several studies regarding the impact of state and federal controlled substance laws on communities of color, and studied the effectiveness of alternatives to incarceration in reducing recidivism rates.