Eric D. Fingerhut June 3, 2011

Eric D. Fingerhut was appointed the seventh chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents on March 14, 2007. He was the first to be appointed by the Governor of the State of Ohio as a member of his cabinet, and is charged with building a system of higher education– from the GED to Ph.D. – designed to prepare all Ohioans for the 21st century and rival the nation in accountability and innovation.

In March 2008, the Chancellor Fingerhut delivered Ohio's 10-year Strategic Plan for Higher Education to the governor and Ohio General Assembly, with an overall goal to raise the educational attainment of the state of Ohio. Since its release, he has worked closely with the administration, Ohio General Assembly, businesses, colleges and universities, and other state agencies to implement strategies to make higher education more efficient while expanding low-cost pathways and educational opportunities to students, and to reframe the relationship between business and higher education to create new jobs and a highly skilled, globally competitive workforce that will ultimately lead the state to economic prosperity.

In 1991-92 and from 1999-2006, Chancellor Fingerhut represented Ohio's 25th Senate District, which is located in the eastern half of Cuyahoga County. He served for eight years on the Finance (Budget) Committee, with six of those years as the ranking Minority Member. He also served on committees related to health, aging, environment, insurance, tax policy, economic development and education. As senator, he was the recipient of the "Senator of the Year" award from Omeris Ohio's Bioscience Association (2005) and "The Ohio Governmental Affairs Award" from the Ohio Rehabilitation Association (2000).

From 2005-07, Chancellor Fingerhut joined the Business Administration faculty of Baldwin-Wallace College as the Director of Economic Development Education and Entrepreneurship. He also has also served as a senior lecturer in the Case Western Reserve University Department of Political Science, School of Law, and Weatherhead School of Management.

Chancellor Fingerhut has practiced law privately and as an attorney in the Older Person's Law Office of the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland. He has also worked for non-profit organizations focused on welfare-to-work programming and advocacy on health and human services issues. He has been the recipient of the "Outstanding Public Service Award" from The Ohio State University John Glenn School of Public Affairs (2008) and the "Public Servant of the Year Award" from the Association for Career and Technical Education (2008).

A 1977 graduate of Cleveland Heights High School, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree with highest honors from Northwestern University in 1981 and received a law degree from the Stanford University School of Law in 1984.
Chancellor Fingerhut and his wife, Amy, along with their two young sons, Sam and Charlie, reside in Columbus, Ohio.

The Sadie & Maurice Friedman Memorial Forum.

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