Ron Amstutz is Senior Advisor at ZHF Consulting LLC and has more than 36 years of state legislative and local government experience, as well as private sector experience as a working journalist.

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Ron has deep experience in developing and strategically delivering a wide range of public policy.  He served as Speaker Pro Tempore in the Ohio House his last two years in the Ohio General Assembly, leaving at the end of 2016 due to term limits. 

 

His wealth of experience includes service as House Finance Chairman and Senate Ways & Means and Economic Development Chairman. Other leadership experiences have included Assistant Majority Whip and Chairman of the Education Subcommittee of the Finance Committee in the Ohio House

 

He first became a Member of the Ohio House in 1981 and served through 2000 when he left due to term limits. From 2001 through 2008, Ron served in the Ohio Senate, where his primary leadership involved chairing Senate Ways and Means and Economic Development Committee.  He was re-elected to the Ohio House in 2008.

 

As Finance Chair and a member of leadership in the General Assembly, Ron has dealt with all aspects of Ohio policy, including energy and environmental matters, health care issues, education policy and funding, and economic development initiatives. In particular, Ron:

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• Was a significant catalyst in advancing public utility regulatory policy reforms, including the deregulation of the Ohio’s electric utility industry.​

• Assisted with the design, roll-out and reauthorization of Ohio's Third Frontier initiative, which is committed to transforming the state's economy through the accelerated growth of diverse startups and early stage technology companies.

• Has been a leader in enacting major tax reforms to lower Ohio's personal income tax rates across the board. He has also worked to reposition Ohio's business taxes to make our state more competitive.

• Led the development of Healthier Buckeye pilot program aimed at assisting communities in working with more of their citizens to better paying employment, thus reducing or eliminating dependence on public assistance, such as Medicaid and food stamps.

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Ron is a lifelong resident of Wayne County. He was raised on a dairy farm between Dalton and Kidron, moved to Orrville in 1971 and has lived in Wooster since 1981.

 

Ron’s political career kicked off in 1976 when he was elected Mayor of the City of Orrville, a position he held through 1980, when he ran successfully for the Ohio House of Representatives.

 

For five years, Ron worked in the Orrville office of The Wooster Daily Record as a writer/photographer, then bureau editor.

 

He is a graduate of Central Christian High School and holds a B.A. Degree in Government Communications from Capital University.

 

Ron and his wife, Joanne, are members of Wooster Grace Church. They have two grown children and one grandchild.

Education Capital University, B.S., Government Communications