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How to Change a Principal Officer

Please see below for required forms and procedures for a Change of Principal Officer without a change of ownership. Licensees are required to undergo this process to add or remove an individual who exercises control in the license but who holds no ownership. Examples include Board Members, a CEO, a CFO, etc. If ownership is at all affected by the addition or removal of a Principal Officer, see our How To’s for Change of Ownership. Send completed forms to AGR.CannabisCOO@illinois.gov. 

NOTE: We no longer accept Change of Principal Officer fee payments or forms in the mail. Applicants will be invoiced for fees via the online portal. Any mailed checks will be voided and returned.

I. Application Form

  • To be filled out by current ownership and emailed to AGR.CannabisCOO@illinois.gov along with your fee and all other relevant forms below. You will be invoiced for your fee in the portal.
  • Craft Growers, Infusers, and Transporters, use this form. Original 21 Cultivation Centers licensed by the IDOA, use this form. 
  • Page 1, Step 1:
    • Select “No” to the question of whether this change would affect ownership.
    • Check “Not applicable” to the question regarding Full or Partial Transfer of Ownership.
  • Skip to Step 3. Fill in added or removed Principal Officers in the chart. You may attach a separate page if the list is extensive.
  • Fees are listed in Step 3. Transporters are exempt from fees until January 1, 2027.

II. Background Checks

  • Updated August 2025: Principal Officers1 who are being added to a licensed entity’s Ownership and Control Structure for the first time must undergo a Background Check. This affords the Department of Agriculture and the Ownership Structure an opportunity to fully vet an incoming Principal Officer before inclusion.
    • Principal Officers who must submit a Background Check must take this Fingerprint Consent Form to a participating in-state vendor.
    • A list of participating vendors is found here.
    • Once the prints have been taken, send the completed form to AGR.CannabisCOO@illinois.gov
    • If the applicant is out-of-state, we encourage them to come to Illinois for fingerprinting if it is convenient. If being printed in Illinois is not possible, please see the fourth FAQ here for how to submit fingerprints from out of state.

III. Principal Officer Information Form

All Principal Officers among new ownership must fill out this form, irrespective of whether they are new to the ownership structure.

[1] According to the CRTA, 705/1-10: "Principal officer" includes a cannabis business establishment applicant or licensed cannabis business establishment's board member, owner with more than 1% interest of the total cannabis business establishment or more than 5% interest of the total cannabis business establishment of a publicly traded company, president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, partner, officer, member, manager member, or person with a profit sharing, financial interest, or revenue sharing arrangement. The definition includes a person with authority to control the cannabis business establishment, a person who assumes responsibility for the debts of the cannabis business establishment and who is further defined in this Act.