Chancellor Mike Duffey

Mike Duffey was appointed by Governor Mike DeWine the eleventh Chancellor of the Ohio Department of Higher Education (ODHE) in January 2024.

As Chancellor, he oversees the state’s two-year and four-year colleges and universities and Ohio Technical Centers. In addition, the Chancellor provides policy guidance to the Governor and the Ohio General Assembly and carries out state higher education policy.

Prior to being named Chancellor, Mike Duffey served ODHE as Senior Vice Chancellor for five years, collaboratively working on policy proposals for the administration, including tuition guarantees, transcript release, student debt relief, short-term credentials, Ohio’s new merit scholarship, increases to need-based aid, and support for innovation and technology commercialization, among other topics.

Before the DeWine-Husted administration, Duffey served eight years in the Ohio House of Representatives, where he chaired the Higher Education and Workforce committee, vice-chaired the legislature’s Joint Committee on College Affordability, and co-chaired the Ohio Tuition Trust Authority. Duffey currently serves as the Governor’s designee on the Midwestern Higher Education Compact. From November 2021 to August 2022, he chaired the State Committee on Computer Science. And from 2019 to 2021, he also served as deputy director of InnovateOhio, an initiative led by Lt. Governor Jon Husted in support of innovation and entrepreneurialism.

As State Representative, Duffey sponsored legislation that established the Chancellor’s authority to review special fees, and the state auditor’s authority to conduct performance audits of Ohio’s public colleges, and he led efforts to involve students in college governance. Duffey was the primary sponsor of HB1, the legislation that created JobsOhio in 2011.

Among sports fans, Duffey is known for having initiated the legal theory and evidentiary basis for the state lawsuit that saved the Columbus Crew Major League Soccer franchise. For this work, he received the Spirit of Columbus award from The Columbus Foundation.

Duffey has a Master of Business Administration from The Ohio State University and a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Michigan. He graduated as a Weidler Scholar at The Ohio State University. Prior to serving in the legislature, Duffey was twice elected to Worthington City Council and worked in the private sector in external relations, communications, and journalism.

Duffey and his wife, Lindsay, a public-school teacher and librarian, live in Worthington and are the parents of two children, Jack and Annie. The family has two goldendoodles, Comet and Clover.