Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS) CEO Patrick Ford is stepping down from the position, the agency announced on Thursday.

Ford has opted to resign after having spent approximately a year as the top brass at the provincial retail supplier and online cannabis store. He previously spent a long career in senior management with the Liquor Control Board of Ontario.

The agency says that Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation VP Cal Bricker will stand in as CEO, starting Friday, for the duration of the search for Ford’s replacement. Bricker has previously served as President and Chairman of the Ontario Waste Management Association, in senior government affairs and public relations roles at Labatt Breweries and Molson Breweries, and as a Senior Policy Analyst at the Ontario Government.

Ford helped launch the OCS in the lead-up to federal legalization in October 2018. The agency’s initial roll-out of online cannabis sales in the province was troubled, with massive delivery delays (many of which the province blamed on a coinciding Canada Post strike), issues with credit card payments, and supply shortages, leading many cannabis consumers back to the illicit market.