Jim Canepa is Superintendent of the Division of Cannabis Control. He joined the division in January of 2024. Prior to joining the division, Canepa served as the Superintendent of the Division of Liquor Control, where he led the state’s Liquor Modernization Project (LMP) in a successful effort to modernize systems and processes across the liquor enterprise.

Prior to his role at Liquor, Jim served as Chief of Staff and Legal Affairs for the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. In this role, he managed the Agency’s Legal Affairs, regulatory compliance and enforcement, and criminal investigation and enforcement. He has served in numerous leadership roles in Ohio state government, including Chief Legal Counsel with the Ohio Department of Public Safety, Deputy Inspector General with the Office of the Ohio Inspector General and First Assistant Attorney General for the Ohio Attorney General. In these roles, he was responsible for overseeing legal affairs, complex projects and process improvements.

Canepa began his career with the Franklin County, Ohio, Prosecutor’s Office, where he served as an Appellate Prosecutor and a Senior Trial Prosecutor. In those roles, he defended felony convictions in the Tenth District Court of Appeals (Ohio) and the Ohio Supreme Court and supervised and litigated felony criminals in trials in common pleas court, respectively.

Throughout his career, Canepa has been recognized for his exemplary work and was honored with the Outstanding Advocacy award from the National Association of Government Attorneys, the Caulley Award for Outstanding Victims Service and a Resolution of Recognition from the Office of Governor George V. Voinovich.

Canepa earned a Juris Doctor from Capital University Law School, and a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from Bowling Green State University.