IAm Melissa Polak

Curiosity has always gotten the best of me. I have an insatiable appetite for figuring out why things are the way they are. After starting my career in performance measurement, internal auditing was a natural path of progression: It is a great field to figure out why things are not working the way they should.

Having moved from a consulting career with Ernst & Young to the cannabis industry where there are no maturity models or best practices, this curiosity has been worth its weight in gold. Whether its untangling often-conflicting regulations, the lack of standardized reporting measures, or simply the nascency of an industry that marries consumer product demand cycles with pharmaceutical quality expectations — with a distribution model that mirrors Canada’s provincial alcohol model — my job demands curiosity, creativity, and thinking outside the box. 

I am passionate about not only sharing my knowledge about the cannabis industry but also dispelling any misconceptions that lead to overly onerous audits, risk management, controls, or insurance practices and regulations. I am confident that as the industry continues to mature, so will the control functions and regulations, and I am curious to discover what’s next!