Richard Cordray

Richard Cordray is a candidate for Governor of Ohio.  Most recently he served for six years as the first Director of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.  He was appointed to that position by President Barack Obama and confirmed by a substantial bipartisan vote of the Senate.  During his tenure, the Consumer Bureau created a consumer response system that gave a voice to over 1,300,000 people who had issues resolved by this means.  They also brought enforcement actions for violations of federal law that returned $12 billion to 30 million people.

Prior to joining the Consumer Bureau, Rich served as Ohio’s Attorney General.  He and his team recovered over $2 billion for Ohio’s retirees, investors, and business owners; took major steps to help protect consumers from financial predators; and worked with Ohio’s universities to adapt academic research for commercial applications.  The Better Business Bureau recognized him with their award for promoting an ethical marketplace.

Rich also served in elected positions where he safeguarded public funds and led state and county banking, investment, debt, and financing activities.  As State Treasurer, his GrowNow program pumped $300 million in low-cost financing into Ohio small businesses to help them create jobs, and he won NeighborWorks America’s Government Service Award as the foremost state leader in foreclosure prevention in the nation in 2008.  As Franklin County Treasurer, he was named the County Leader of the Year nationally by American City & County magazine in 2005.

Rich also taught at the OSU College of Law, served in the Ohio House, and was Ohio’s first Solicitor General.  He has argued seven cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, including by special appointment of both the Clinton and Bush Justice Departments.  He is a graduate of Michigan State, Oxford University in England, and the University of Chicago Law School, and he clerked for two U.S. Supreme Court Justices, Byron White and Anthony Kennedy.

Rich lives near Grove City with his wife Peggy—a Professor at Capital University Law School in Columbus—and their twin children Danny and Holly.