Jim Samuel

Mr. Samuel founded Capitol Integrity Group, Ltd. in 2005 as a strategic policy development and communications consultancy whose clients include public and private corporations, government agencies, institutions of higher education, business associations and non-profit entities. Mr. Samuel provides clients with strategic guidance, cultivated resources, and a comprehensive approach focused on issue management, public perception and political forces.

He has unique insight and knowledge of complex governmental and business structures serving in executive management positions at five cabinet-level agencies in the administrations of two Ohio Governors. Mr. Samuel has served as a key policy strategist, chief spokesman, principal legislative agent and crisis coordinator.

Mr. Samuel is a Fellow of Cleveland State University’s Levin College of Urban Affairs Energy Policy Center and a Fellow of the Ohio Manufacturing Institute at The Ohio State University. He served as a co-author of Driving Ohio’s Prosperity, a strategy document for Ohio’s automotive and advanced manufacturing sector. He was an advisor on An Analysis of The Econmic Potentital for Shale Formations in Ohio and was a contributing writer for Crain's Cleveland Business energy report. He is a member and past vice-chair of the Columbus Chamber's Government Affairs Steering Committee. He was appointed to the Clean Ohio Council by Governor John Kasich in 2012, previously served as Vice President of CompeteColumbus and also as a founding board member of the Nemacolin Energy Institute.

Prior to founding CIG, Mr. Samuel served the Governor of Ohio personally as Executive Assistant for Business & Industry, the primary advisor and liaison between Ohio’s business community and the Office of the Governor; providing policy review, recommendations and advice. Mr. Samuel also served as the governor’s primary liaison to seven cabinet agencies and two commissions: the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, the Departments of Development, Transportation, Taxation and Agriculture, the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, the Industrial Commission of Ohio, the Ohio Turnpike Commission and the Ohio Expositions Commission.

Mr. Samuel led successful efforts to achieve lawsuit and workers’ compensation reforms, the creation of the Ohio Business Development Coalition, and served as the lead in responding to numerous energy policy matters, reliability and industry crisis response issues, including the Blackout of 2003. He also led state preparation efforts for the 2005 DoD Base Realignment and Closure review. His tenure was highlighted by the passage of historic tax reform legislation for which he was recognized at the highest levels as being instrumental to the success with reforming Ohio’s antiquated tax system. Immediately prior to his appointment to the Governor's Staff, Mr. Samuel served eight years as Deputy Administrator & Chief of Corporate Affairs for the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation, at the time the largest single-line insurer in the nation with more than $22 billion in assets.

Jim is a native of Northeast Ohio and began his career working in the family print shop in downtown Cleveland. He graduated from The Ohio State University with a degree in Social & Behavioral Sciences and received an honorable discharge from the United States Air Force. Jim lives in Columbus, Ohio with his wife Heidi and their two children. Jim is a member of Saint Catharine Catholic Church in Columbus, Ohio and Holy Trinity Catholic Church in West Union, Ohio. He is an active sportsman and hunter.