Carolyn Rice

sioner, Carolyn Rice has focused on issues including birth-to-age-3 child development, homeless solutions, youth internships and work-based learning, addiction prevention, criminal justice, regional and international economic development, sustainability and the environment, mental health, and resiliency by responding to emergencies ranging from tornadoes to the coronavirus. She is a champion of Montgomery County’s participation in the Ohio Governor’s Imagination Library in partnership with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library that mails free books to children birth to age 5. The County program has had more than 17,000 children participate since its inception. Carolyn has served as the Chair of the Montgomery County Land Reutilization Corporation, better known as the Montgomery County Land Bank, since it was created in 2011. As Commissioner, she also serves on the boards of the Community Improvement Corporation, the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce, the Downtown Dayton Special Improvement District Board, and the local and regional emergency management boards. In addition, she serves on the County’s Data Processing Board, Investment Advisory Committee, and Planning Commission. She also serves on the County Commission Association of Ohio’s Investment and Justice & Public Safety committees, and as Vice Chair of the Human Services Committee. She is a member of Ohio’s state-wide advisory board for the expansion of Infant Toddler Courts. Prior to her service as an elected official, Carolyn worked 17 years in the private sector for a variety of organizations including Reynolds & Reynolds, LexisNexis, Dames & Moore, and Wright State University. Carolyn is active in the community and has served on the boards of the Rotary Club of Dayton, Dayton Council on World Affairs, Community Blood Center/Community Tissue Services, and the Dayton Sister City Committee. Carolyn has been recognized as one of the Dayton Business Journal’s Power 50 (50 most influential women in the region) three times, and as a 2016 Peace Hero through the Dayton International Peace Museum. Carolyn has been active in many community activities, particularly with a focus on youth. She and her husband have hosted numerous international guests in their home through various exchange programs and is a College Promise mentor for the second time meeting weekly with a student from Dixie High School. Carolyn is a native of Dayton and received her BS in Education from Miami University of Ohio and her MBA from Wright State University. She was an elementary school teacher working with students with special needs early in her career. She completed the Genesee Institute’s Community Land Reform Initiatives executive education program at Harvard University’s Kennedy School in 2009. Carolyn has been married to her husband Mike for more than 45 years and has two grown children, four young grandchildren, and a rescue dog.