President Lee Fisher

Lee Fisher has served as the 10th President of Baldwin Wallace University (BW) since July 1, 2025.

His diverse career has spanned the public, private, nonprofit and academic sectors. Lee served 18 years in state-elected public office, including Ohio Attorney General, Ohio Lt. Governor, State Senator, and State Representative. He also served as Dean, Cleveland State University College of Law; President & CEO of the national organization, CEOs for Cities; President & CEO of the Center for Families and Children; and Partner in the Cleveland law firm, Hahn Loeser. He has served as a public and private company board director, nonprofit board director, podcast host, newspaper and magazine columnist, and television and radio commentator. In 2022, Lee was inducted into the Cleveland Magazine Business Hall of Fame for his decades-long work on state, regional and local economic development.

Higher Education Leadership

Prior to being named BW's 10th president, Lee served for 9 years as the Dean and Joseph C. Hostetler-BakerHostetler Chair in Law at Cleveland State University College of Law (CSU Law), where he increased enrollment by 96% and turned the law school’s deficit into a healthy annual surplus. He was inducted in the law school’s Hall of Fame in 2025 as the first-ever sole inductee. Lee and his wife Peggy established the annual CSU Law Dean Emeritus Lee Fisher Civic Discourse and Dialogue Series and the Custodian of Civility Award.

As Attorney General, Fisher served as legal counsel for all of Ohio's public universities. As Lt. Governor, he actively participated in the development of the University System of Ohio's 2007-10 Strategic Plan, and he worked with all of Ohio's research universities and institutions as Director of the Ohio Department of Development and Chair of the Ohio Third Frontier Commission.

During his tenure as President and CEO of CEOs for Cities, in partnership with the Kresge Foundation, Fisher directed the national $1 Million Talent Dividend Prize. Fifty-seven U.S. metropolitan regions competed to attain the greatest proportionate increase in the number of post-secondary college degrees over a four-year period. He has spoken throughout the country on the value of a college degree, and has received honorary doctorates from eight colleges and universities as commencement speaker.

Public Sector Leadership

Lee served in elected public office for 18 years. He served as Ohio Attorney General, Ohio Lt. Governor, State Senator and State Representative. He also served as Director, Ohio Department of Development; Chair, Ohio Third Frontier Commission; Chair, Ohio Economic Growth Council; Chair, Ohio Organized Crime Commission; and Chair, Clean Ohio Council.

As Attorney General, he served as the General Counsel for the State of Ohio, and he managed the largest law firm in Ohio — a team including 350 lawyers, 23 legal divisions, a $50 million budget and an average daily pending caseload of 40,000. He supervised the writing of over 300 formal legal opinions. Fisher was the first Ohio Attorney General to personally argue cases before the Ohio Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. In 1992, in an ironic twist, he defended the constitutionality of Ohio's Hate Crime Law in the Ohio Supreme Court, the law that he authored years earlier as a State Senator.

As Ohio Lt. Governor and Director of the Ohio Department of Development, he led the development of the first-ever economic development strategic plan for the State of Ohio, and Ohio won the national Governor’s Cup for economic development three consecutive years.

Fisher is the author of 10 Ohio laws, including Ohio's Hate Crime, Crime Victims Assistance and Missing Children laws. After his first term, he was voted Outstanding Freshman Legislator by the members of the Ohio House and Senate. During the decade he served in the Ohio Legislature, he served as Chair of the Cuyahoga County Legislative Delegation, the largest delegation in the Ohio Legislature.

President Bill Clinton appointed Lee as Chair of the National Commission on Crime Control and Prevention. He was a charter member of the Cleveland Community Police Commission and served as Special Transition Advisor on Ethics to Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb. He is Co-Chair with former Ohio Governor Bob Taft of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition's Ohio Advisory Board.

Legal Sector Leadership

After graduating from the Case Western Reserve University School of Law, Lee clerked for Judge Paul C. Weick of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He practiced law with the Cleveland law firm Hahn Loeser as Of Counsel from 1978-90 and Partner from 1995-99. He is a Life Member of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit Judicial Conference and the Ohio Court of Appeals for the Eighth District Judicial Conference. Lee and his wife Peggy received the Richard W. Pogue Community Award for Excellence in Community Leadership and Engagement from the Greater Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association Foundation.

Education

Lee is a graduate of Shaker Hts. High School and a member of its inaugural Hall of Fame class. He received his B.A. from Oberlin College and served on the Oberlin College Board of Trustees for 12 years. He earned his law degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Law, where he was the first recipient of the School of Law's Distinguished Recent Graduate Award. In addition, he has a Master of Nonprofit Organization from the Case Western University Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences.

He was a Chase Public Leadership Fellow at Harvard University’s Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government. He is also a graduate of the Case Western Reserve University Weatherhead School of Management's Professional Fellows Program and was a Case Western Reserve University Presidential Fellow, teaching two undergraduate seminars on leadership, innovation and collaboration. He is a 1984 graduate of Leadership Cleveland.

Personal

Lee and his wife, Peggy Zone Fisher, live on the campus of Baldwin Wallace University. Peggy served for 18 years as President & CEO of the Diversity Center of Northeast Ohio, and currently serves as Vice-Chair of the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority and on the Board of Southwestern General Hospital. They have two children, Jason and Jessica, and two grandchildren, Violet (8) and Dylan (2).