Shannon Swantek is the Principal Scientist and CEO of Enlightened Quality Analytics LLC., who holds broad knowledge of the environmental, nutritional supplement, and cannabis industries. Shannon has been supporting the cannabis industry for 6 years in regulatory, technical and quality support roles. She has a robust background that includes 10 years of experience performing audits nationally to the ISO/IEC 17025, ISO/IEC 9001, and cGMP Standards in environmental, food, agricultural, and cannabis laboratories.
Shannon and the EQA team are supporting the industry on all levels. She is supporting organizations internationally with license applications, helping existing licensees control risk by supporting their implementation of ISO, GMP, and state compliant quality management systems (QMS). She is also helping laboratories in every phase of development. With a focus on clean compliance, she brings expertise from multiple industries to her services which include certified auditing, data management and validation, and analytical method development.
Shannon’s extensive experience in the cannabis industry began when named the first ORELAP Cannabis Laboratory Program Manager. In this position she coordinated, trained, audited, and created program policy for the first round of
cannabis laboratories to be accredited in the state. She developed a cannabis- specific “in-matrix” proficiency testing program and multiple policies addressing the complexities of compliant implementation. Her place on the Oregon Laboratory Rules Advisory Committee has allowed her to draft and advise policy and regulations supporting multiple agencies, develop the first Oregon cannabis laboratory regulations, and a large portion of the technical cannabis
legislation state-wide pertaining to good practices in cultivation, manufacturing, packaging and labeling. She also was instrumental in drafting the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MADPH) cannabis laboratory sub-regulatory requirements and guidance as well as the MADPH sampling protocols.
As a cannabis industry expert, Ms. Swantek served on the Cannabis Testing Rules Advisory Committee (RAC), which advised on the testing legislation for both the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) for medical cannabis and the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) for adult-use cannabis sampling and analysis and on a wider level, she assisted the Oregon Department of Justice (ODOJ), Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA), OHA, and OLCC by regularly advising on policy
in all parts of the cannabis-industry legislation pertaining to testing, labeling, processing, and cultivation.
Additionally, she chaired the cannabis sampling sub-committee and participated in the pesticide sub-committee providing associated sections of the legislation. She participated in industry education efforts – speaking at processor, dispensary, and cultivator meetings on the changing legislation, working with the laboratories, and educating on process control. She remains engaged in state and national efforts to support the cannabis industry as well as provide laboratory development services to help elevate the industry’s standards for credible and high-quality scientific data.
Prior to forming EQA, Shannon spent two years developing the cannabis technical consulting area of a small consulting firm. She serves on the editorial board of Terpenes and Testing magazine and is passionate about providing trainings and presentations to an industry in infancy that is in desperate need of technical guidance at conferences such as the Boston and New York Cannabis World Congress and Concentration 2019 as well as writing articles for journals such as Analytical Cannabis and Extraction Magazine. With a deep network of industry professionals, Shannon has participated in investor relations such as due diligence audits and introductions, helped processors and producers come up to cGMP and ISO 9001 compliance from facility design to production, and helped license-holders nationwide work with their laboratories for high quality data that is appropriate to their products.
Shannon has experience as a project manager, analytical chemist, and senior scientist in environmental, drinking water, and nutritional supplement laboratories as well as developing the cannabis consulting program at a primary environmental consulting firm. Her position at Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ) included quality assurance, project review, sampling coordination, and conducting training for permit and hazardous waste inspectors, wastewater treatment plant operators, and laboratory staff. She participated in ORELAP efforts to promote cooperative, rather than punitive, assessments by providing technical assistance and cooperative training. This holistic approach resulted in the program doubling in size, and ORELAP became the primary accrediting body to laboratories from South Korea, Fiji, Canada, and various states including Colorado, Arizona, Hawaii, and most laboratories in the California National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program (NELAP).