Michael Shelton

Associate Director of the Sustainability Institute at Ohio State University, Michael Shelton will participate in the Climate Action Workshop of Summit Session 3 on October 23, at 10:45am central time.

Mike joined Ohio State’s Sustainability Institute in May 2017. In this capacity, Mike helps coordinate on-campus activities to achieve the university’s seven sustainability goals, including managing the Ohio State Sustainability Fund.

Prior to joining the university, Mike managed corporate social responsibility and sustainability efforts for The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company for six years. This included establishing new external partnerships to help the company accomplish its corporate responsibility goals, and working with an internal team to continuously improve the environmental footprint of the company’s products and operations.

Before his time at Scotts, Mike served as Chief of the Office of External Affairs for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. During his tenure at the Department, Mike negotiated the enactment of numerous pieces of legislation, including the state’s ratification of the Great Lakes Compact; an historic overhaul of the state’s oil and gas regulatory statutes; and measures to protect Lake Erie’s fishery and Ohio’s game animal species. Mike’s role at the Department included overlapping service in the Office of Governor Ted Strickland as the Executive Assistant for Regulatory Agencies. While performing these duties in the Governor’s office, Mike provided policy and programmatic guidance to a number of state agencies including the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Agriculture, and Public Utilities Commission.

Before his service with the Department of Natural Resources and the Governor’s Office, Mike served as the Assistant Director of Government Relations at The Nature Conservancy’s Ohio Chapter. Here, Mike led a variety of initiatives to advance the protection and restoration of Ohio’s natural habitat, including the establishment of the Clean Ohio Fund, a $400 million state bond initiative to protect natural areas, agricultural openspace, multi-use trails and restore urban brownfields.

Mike served as a Legislative Service Commission Fellow at the Ohio Senate and graduated with a B.A. in sociology from Kenyon College. He and his wife, Gena, are learning about patience from their two daughters and toddler son.