Meet the Team

The Cannabis Examiners unit is comprised of three Data Consultants and one Data Consultant Supervisor, located around the state. The team helps cannabis licensees throughout Washington, providing assistance on traceability, assisting with enforcement and audit activity, and surveying the industry to develop new resources and data dashboards. Contact the team at examiners@lcb.wa.gov. 

Brian McQuay
Data Consultant Supervisor
Originally hailing from the Midwest, I came to Washington the way a lot of individuals do via active-duty service in the Army. I have been in Washington for 20 years and studied at the University of Washington Tacoma where I earned my bachelor’s degree in Law and Policy and a Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary studies, where I focused on disparity rate in cannabis conviction post I-502. I have in several different fields and focus on transparency and public safety. I enjoy spending my free time with my partner of 22 years creating art, traveling around the state, and playing video games. I work out of the Headquarters office in Olympia and cover the Southwestern part of Washington state. 

Ayrianna Blair
Data Consultant

Originally hailing from Snohomish County, Ayrianna graduated from Lynnwood High School and attended CWU for both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Law & Justice. Ayrianna has primarily worked in a variety of roles within the pet insurance industry where she applied her regulatory compliance and risk management experience that she gained by attending the Gould School of Law at the University of Southern California. Ayrianna joined the LCB as a Cannabis Examiner in the beginning of 2023 and works out of our Spokane field office. Ayrianna lives with her husband Jeff and son TJ on their 20+ acre hobby farm in Cheney with a plethora of animals including horses, goats, pigs, chickens, dogs, cats, and frogs!

Shane Early
Data Consultant

Raised in north central Washington, Shane graduated from Chelan High School and attended CWU in Ellensburg for a double major in Biology (BS in Botany) and Geography (BA in Environmental Studies) before pursuing a MS in Soil Science at WSU. Shane has worked primarily in natural resource management positions, as a biologist for the Dept. of Army (Yakima Training Center) and as a specialist for the WA State Dept of Natural Resources (Aquatics, Forestry) prior to joining the LCB as a cannabis examiner in the fall of 2022. Shane works in Ellensburg/Yakima, and lives with two wonderful kids (Sam/Becca) and his amazing wife (Dr. Briggs-Early), and enjoys gardening, hiking and reading in his spare time.

Joel Tansey
Data Consultant

Joel comes from a farm background in Eastern Iowa and received a BA in economics and an MS in Agricultural and Applied Economics from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and an MS in Agricultural and Resource Economics from University of California Davis. He has worked in a variety of positions within the agriculture industry, including cannabis retail, almond production, wheat and rye seed genetics, corn and soybean farm consulting, cannabis consumer research, and most recently as an economist with the UC Davis Cannabis Economics Group. Joel joined the LCB examiner team in August 2023 and works in the greater Seattle area. Free time is spent on hiking with his girlfriend Carly, video games, Legos, powerlifting, and feeding his 2 giant bunnies Lilo and Stitch.