Stephanie McCloud
Administrator/CEO
Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation
Columbus, Ohio
Age: 49

For Stephanie McCloud, the insurance industry has been a little like a quote from Michael Corleone’s character in “The Godfather” series: “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!”

After graduating from law school, Ms. McCloud began her career as a staff attorney at the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation before moving to a role with Gov. George Voinovich’s administration a year later.

After working for the Ohio government, the insurance industry and several firms, she’s back to where she began, but this time at the helm of the bureau.

Since stepping into the CEO role in January, the bureau has already reported the largest workers comp rates decrease for private employers in the past 60 years, and Ms. McCloud has made tackling the opioid crisis one of its top priorities by removing OxyContin from the state’s workers comp formulary and helping to expand substance use recovery programs to more counties around the state, she said.

“In just a short period of time, she has done a great job of keeping the high standards of (the BWC), which is not easy to do,” said Patrick Tiberi, president and CEO of the Ohio Business Roundtable in Columbus, who has known Ms. McCloud since they worked together during the Voinovich administration when he was a legislator.

While the transition from public- to private-sector work and back again hasn’t always been easy, she said good mentors have helped her along the way and led her to get involved in mentoring, which has included introducing students as young as high-schoolers and peers not as far along in their careers to insurance and politics.

While Ms. McCloud is still settling into her new position, she said she’s fortunate to have support from her husband of 18 years — whom she met for the first time at the BWC when they were both staff attorneys with offices across the hall from each other.

Ms. McCloud said she hopes her new role will enable her to have a positive effect on Ohioans and make sure workers in the state get “back home safe.”

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