Dr. Eric Braun became the eighth President of Shawnee State University in Portsmouth, Ohio in 2024. His entrepreneurial and innovative-focused leadership is advancing the institution during a time of significant transformation for higher education. During his 15-year career at Shawnee State, he has demonstrated success in the areas of enrollment management, finance, fundraising, development, government relations, and grant funding.

As Vice President for Advancement & Enrollment Management from 2015 to 2023, he strengthened the functions of recruitment and admissions, development, alumni relations, marketing and communications, athletics, financial aid, workforce development, and community partnerships. He was instrumental in creating a vision for SSU’s Kricker Innovation Hub, a facility that promotes entrepreneurship, innovation, and creativity in the region, and securing the needed support to make it a reality.

Dr. Braun joined Shawnee State’s senior leadership staff in 2009 as Executive Director for Development and President of the SSU Development Foundation.

A native of Portsmouth, OH, Dr. Braun is a graduate of Wake Forest University in North Carolina where he earned his undergraduate and law degrees and remains admitted to practice in state and federal court, specializing in the areas of corporate law, particularly mergers and acquisitions, and commercial real estate development. He earned his doctorate in organizational leadership from Vanderbilt University. Braun is also a member of the New York State Bar and the United States Supreme Court Bar.

In 2014, Dr. Braun was appointed by Governor Kasich to the Ohio Tuition Trust Authority, a board that provides investment oversight of Ohio’s 529 college savings program. He was elected Executive Chairman in 2015 and served until 2018.

He currently serves on the Ohio Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, the OhioMeansJobs WIOA Workforce Development Area 1 Board, the State Science & Technology Institute Economic Development Subcommunity, and the OhioX public policy committee. He is a member of the Scioto County Bar Association, the Portsmouth Elks Lodge, and a past president of the Rotary Club of Portsmouth.

Eric is a seventh generation Scioto Countian and lives in Portsmouth with his wife, Rebekah, and has three children; Andrew, Ellie, and William.

President’s Page at SSU