Originally from Appalachia Ohio, Lori Criss has served in various executive leadership and policy-making roles in Ohio’s behavioral health field for more than three decades.

She was appointed Director of the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services by Ohio Governor Mike DeWine in 2018 and has since made it her mission to help make behavioral health services for Ohioans more visible, accessible, and effective. As Director of a cabinet-level state agency, Criss has focused on growing and modernizing person-centered behavioral health prevention, treatment, harm reduction, and recovery supports; erasing the stigma that surrounds substance use disorders and mental illness; developing a strong and supported workforce; enhancing the use of data to improve outcomes; promoting parity; and focusing on populations that have experienced inequity in access to services, quality in care, and outcomes.

Her professional accolades and membership are numerous and include: serving as a Member of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) National Advisory Council (NAC); Vice President for Internal Affairs for the National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Addiction Directors (NASADAD) Board of Directors; Member, National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) State-Only Advisory Group on State Strategies to Modernize the Behavioral Health System; and Vice Chairwoman of Governor Mike DeWine’s RecoveryOhio Advisory Council.

She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work from The Ohio State University. In 2019, she was awarded The Ohio State University Alumni Association’s Alumni in Government Distinguished Service Award and received the Distinguished Career Award from The Ohio State University’s College of Social Work Hall of Fame.