Ann Womer Benjamin is the mayor of

Aurora, Ohio Aurora is a city in northwestern Portage County, Ohio, United States. A suburb in between Akron and Cleveland, the population was 17,239 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Akron metropolitan area. Some say Aurora was the name of the daught ...

, a position she has held since 2014. She is former executive director of the

Northeast Ohio Council on Higher Education Northeast Ohio Council on Higher Education ("NOCHE") is a nonprofit business and higher education collaborative in a 23-county region of Northeast Ohio. NOCHE's member institutions of higher education include a cross section of public, private, two ...

. Womer Benjamin served in the cabinet of the former

Governor of Ohio A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...

Bob Taft Robert Alphonso Taft III (born January 8, 1942) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 67th governor of Ohio from 1999 to 2007. A member of the Taft family, Taft political dynasty and Republican Party (United States), Republic ...

as director of the

Ohio Department of Insurance The Ohio Department of Insurance (ODI) is an Ohio state government Ohio Rev. Code § 121.01 ''et seq.'' administrative agency. The ODI provides consumer protection through education and regulation while promoting a stable and competitive environme ...

. Prior to that appointment, she was a member of the

Ohio House of Representatives The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate. The House of Representatives first met in ...

in 1995–2002. She represented a district which encompassed Portage County.

Biography

Womer Benjamin received her bachelor's degree from

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private university, private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provide ...

in 1975 magna cum laude and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and graduated from Case Western Reserve University Law School in 1978. She practiced law with Black McCuskey Souers and Arbaugh in Canton, Ohio and then with the former national law firm of Arter and Hadden in Cleveland, Ohio. She served four terms in the

from 1995 to 2002. During her term, she sponsored bills on student loans, crime victims' reparations, rape, finance reform, trust law, and welfare reform. In 1994 Womer Benjamin beat a long-time incumbent to win a seat in the Ohio House of Representatives where she served for eight years representing most of Portage County, Ohio (75th District). In 2002, she ran for the House of Representatives for Ohio's 17th district as a Republican, but lost to Democratic

state Senator A state senator is a member of a State legislature (United States), state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. History There are typically fewer state senators than there ...

Tim Ryan. Womer Benjamin was appointed the first female Director of the

by Governor Bob Taft in January 2003. In 2007, she was appointed by Governor Taft to the Ohio State Board of Education and was named executive director of the

. In 2011, she was elected to the Aurora City Council and in 2012 appointed to the Ohio Tuition Trust Authority by Governor John Kasich. In 2013, Womer Benjamin announced her bid for mayor of Aurora, Ohio. She won the position in a six-way race with 34.58 percent of the vote and has been re-elected twice. She became the third woman mayor of Aurora, Ohio. Governor

Mike DeWine Richard Michael DeWine ( ; born January 5, 1947) is an American politician and attorney serving as the 70th List of governors of Ohio, governor of Ohio since 2019. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served a ...

appointed Womer Benjamin to the Kent State Board of Trustees in 2019. She also serves on the board of the National First Ladies Library.

References

External links

Profile on the Ohio Ladies' Gallery website

Ann Womer Benjamin at votesmart.org
Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Mayors of places in Ohio Republican Party members of the Ohio House of Representatives State cabinet secretaries of Ohio Vanderbilt University alumni Case Western Reserve University School of Law alumni Cleveland State University faculty American women lawyers American lawyers Women state legislators in Ohio Women mayors of places in Ohio 21st-century members of the Ohio General Assembly 21st-century American women politicians 20th-century American women politicians American women academics 20th-century members of the Ohio General Assembly {{Ohio-OHRepresentative-stub

Biography

See also

References

External links