Tyler Williams
Tyler Williams is a consumer product safety & quality expert with significant experience in the Food & Beverage, Cannabis, and Dietary Supplement industries. Williams is the CEO of ASI, and the first food safety executive to make the Forbes 30 Under 30 list due to his noteworthy achievements as a thought leader in product safety. Tyler was also recognized by the St. Louis Business Journal, Marijuana Venture and the Alliance to Stop Foodborne Illness as a ‘40 Under 40 Executive to Watch.’
Before stepping in as CEO in 2023, Tyler was ASI’s Chief Technical Officer, where he was responsible for the certification process of over 3000+ audits annually while also training and consulting major food and beverage companies around the world to help improve their food safety practices. He graduated with a master's degree in food safety and Certificate in International Food Law from Michigan State University and has several professional development certifications in food defense, food fraud, preventive controls, HACCP, lead auditor, etc. Tyler is also very active with several industry trade associations and working groups.
In 2019, Tyler started a non-profit organization called Show Me Food Safety. This organization provides resources to small food manufacturers and growers to help improve their food safety practices, get on the shelves of local grocery stores, and improve the overall health of consumers. Show Me Food Safety also awards scholarships to young aspiring food safety professionals.
In 2020, Williams founded Cannabis Safety & Quality (CSQ) after noticing a severe lack in standardization within the cannabis industry in comparison to what’s available for food manufacturers.
Darwin Millard
Darwin Millard is a 17-year cannabis/hemp industry veteran, cannabinoid extraction specialist, policy change-maker, and one of Marijuana Venture’s ‘40 Under 40’ Executives to Watch in Cannabis. 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. Millard 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, which led him to where he is today. Now 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 an award-winning 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. He’s 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.