Conner Griffeth
30
Chief operating officer
Level One Labs
From teaching fitness and skiing to working in armored logistics and exporting Alaskan seafood, Conner Griffeth found success in a wide variety of fields by his early 20s. But after sharing a chairlift with a dispensary owner in Telluride, Colorado, he was convinced that the cannabis industry could offer him a more balanced career.
“I’ve stayed in cannabis because of the combination of play and professionalism that comes with the space,” he says. “I have always struggled in most corporate structures, and cannabis allows me the opportunity to be myself and work with like-minded individuals.”
Griffeth explored the industry’s various career options and eventually landed in compliance testing. At 23, he became the co-founder and chief operations officer for the Arizona-based testing company Level One Labs, which has grown into one of the leading labs in the state, processing more than 4,000 samples a month.
Griffeth says the company has found remarkable success by “simply doing what we say we will.”
According to Griffeth, The Arizona Department of Health Services has shut down a multitude of Level One’s competitors and issued a fine of more than half a million dollars to a cannabis lab.
“When a lab goes under, we can show their clients what makes Level One Labs stand out,” he says.
Q&A
You seem to have bounced around a number of different fields from fitness and ski instructor to armored logistics to shipping seafood out of Alaska – how did you land on the cannabis industry? What made you want to stay in this field?
My time in the Alaska seafood industry was a rich learning experience. It exposed me to quality management systems in regulated environments and honed my management skills by leading teams of 50. I quickly realized I had no desire to spend my entire career working 16 hours a day, seven days a week, so I returned and finished my bachelor’s at Arizona State. After graduating, I moved to Telluride, CO, where I met the owner of a dispensary on a chairlift. He talked me into jumping into the cannabis industry, and after that ski season, I moved to Denver. My first job in cannabis was working for an armored courier service, where I was able to network and use my connections to transition to the grow side of things, eventually landing in compliance testing. I’ve stayed in cannabis because of the combination of play and professionalism that comes with the space. I have always struggled in most corporate structures, and cannabis allows me the opportunity to be myself and work with like-minded individuals.
How has the state’s testing scandal impacted your business?
AZDHS has shut down a multitude of our competitors, and the largest civil monetary fine ($500,000+) in the state’s history was issued to a cannabis compliance lab. When a lab goes under, we can show their clients what makes Level One Labs stand out. We have grown a sizable, loyal customer base that we focus on. This allows us to continually improve our services, help clients stay compliant and allows us to tackle new projects on the R&D side of testing.
What do you attribute Level One’s success too?
It seems strange, but I believe it’s simply doing what we say we will. The entire industry appears rife with people who overpromise and underdeliver. We do everything we can to keep our current clients happy and have had great success in our retention rates.
What would you say has been your biggest milestone in the industry?
When Level One entered the Arizona market, we were the only state not to have mandatory testing requirements. We successfully passed legislation that mandated safety testing and helped guide the state’s regulations by forming the Testing Advisory Committee. This panel brought together professionals from various sectors of the cannabis industry to help guide sensible testing regulations. The committee initially constructed regulations for the medical marijuana market; however, it laid the groundwork for recreational testing, which was passed into law a few short months later.