Doug Ducey

Douglas Anthony Ducey /ˈduːsi/ (born April 9, 1964) is an American businessman and politician who is the 23rd governor of Arizona. He previously worked as the CEO of Cold Stone Creamery, a chain of ice cream parlors based in Scottsdale, Arizona.

A Republican, Ducey was the state treasurer of Arizona from 2011 to 2015. On November 4, 2014, he was elected governor of Arizona; he took office on January 5, 2015. He was reelected in 2018.

Doug Ducey was born Douglas Anthony Roscoe Jr. in Toledo, Ohio, where he was raised. He is the son of Madeline Scott and Douglas Roscoe Sr., a former member of the Toledo Police Department.

His parents divorced, and in 1975 his mother married businessman Michael Ducey, to whom she remained married until 1981. Michael Ducey adopted Douglas and his siblings in 1976, and Douglas's last name was legally changed to his adoptive father's.

Ducey graduated from St. John's Jesuit High School in 1982 and moved to Arizona to attend Arizona State University (ASU) while working at Hensley & Co., the Anheuser-Busch distributor owned by the family of Cindy McCain. He graduated in 1986 with a Bachelor of Science degree in finance.

Business

After graduating from ASU, Ducey joined Procter & Gamble and began a career in sales and marketing. While there, he was trained in management, preparing him for his role as partner and CEO of Cold Stone Creamery. Ducey was the CEO of Cold Stone Creamery from 1995 to 2007. When he and his business partner sold the company in 2007, Cold Stone (which was founded in 1988) had more than 1,400 locations in the US and 10 other countries. After the company's sale to Kahala, accusations of franchise mismanagement led Ducey to leave the organization. He became the lead investor and served as chairman of the board for iMemories from 2008 to 2012. Cold Stone Creamery Franchises ranked among the 10 worst franchise brands in terms of Small Business Administration loan defaults.

State Treasurer of Arizona (2011–2015)

In 2010 Ducey was elected state treasurer of Arizona, replacing Dean Martin. As Arizona's chief banker and investment officer, Ducey oversaw more than $12 billion in state assets and served as an investment manager for local governments. The Treasurer serves as the chairman of Arizona's State Board of Investment and State Loan Commission, and as the state's surveyor general and a member of the State Land Selection Board. Ducey also served as the western region vice president for the National Association of State Treasurers, and was the president of the Western State Treasurers' Association.

Governor of Arizona (2015–present)

2014 campaign

In July 2013 Ducey filed the paperwork necessary to explore the possibility of running for governor. On February 19, 2014, he formally announced his intention to seek the office at a rally in downtown Phoenix.

He received the endorsement of numerous conservative leaders, including Senators Ted Cruz and Mike Lee, as well as Governor Scott Walker and former Senator Jon Kyl. Ducey won the Republican nomination in the August primary, and was subsequently endorsed by the outgoing governor, Jan Brewer, along with Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake, and the Republicans in Arizona's U.S. House delegation. Ducey was also endorsed by several organizations, including Arizona Right to Life, Concerned Women for America and the Small Business Alliance.

Ducey defeated Democrat Fred DuVal and Libertarian Barry Hess in the November 4 general election.

During Ducey's campaign, press accounts revealed that some of his relatives in Toledo were involved in organized crime in Ohio. The investigation found no evidence that Ducey profited from or engaged in criminal activity. He declined to comment.

Tenure

Ducey was sworn into office on January 5, 2015. Shortly after his term began, he instituted a state employee hiring freeze in an effort to balance the state budget.

On January 15, 2015, Ducey signed an education bill requiring high school students to pass the U.S. citizenship test in order to graduate, making Arizona the first state to require this.

Ducey issued his first vetoes on March 30, 2015, of HB2150, an amendment to an animal cruelty law that would have excluded livestock animals from protection under that law, and HB2410, which would have prohibited police departments from establishing quotas for traffic citations.

On March 31, 2017, Ducey signed SB1367, which requires doctors to care for babies born alive during abortions.

On April 6, 2017, Ducey signed a major school voucher expansion bill, extending eligibility to every Arizona student.

On September 4, 2018, it was announced that Ducey had appointed former U.S. Senator Jon Kyl to the U.S. Senate seat that was vacated upon the death of John McCain. Kyl resigned from the Senate effective December 31, 2018, and Ducey appointed former Congresswoman Martha McSally to replace him.

On February 22, 2019, U.S. President Donald Trump appointed Ducey to the bipartisan Council of Governors.

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Ducey opposes the Affordable Care Act, saying, "It's no secret Obamacare has been a disaster for Arizona and that I want it repealed and replaced." On July 30, 2017, the Arizona Republic reported that Ducey had urged Senators Jeff Flake and John McCain to vote for legislation that would repeal and replace it. McCain ultimately voted against repeal. In September 2017 Ducey released a statement endorsing the Graham–Cassidy health care amendment as "the best path forward to repeal and replace Obamacare." On September 20 he said the effects of the Graham–Cassidy bill on the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System were being analyzed by his staff and asserted that the ACA had been a failure. He admitted he had not seen the final version of the Graham-Cassidy bill but said he suspected it would be “the longest possible transition so that we can move people from Medicaid into a superior insurance product."

Confederate monuments

In August 2017, after violence by white nationalists at a gathering in Charlottesville, Virginia, Ducey said in response to a reporter's question that he had no interest in removing Confederate monuments from public lands in Arizona. He condemned groups like the Ku Klux Klan, Neo-Nazis and white nationalists but said, "It's important that people know our history... I don't think we should try to hide our history."

LGBT issues and same-sex marriage

As a candidate, Ducey opposed same-sex marriage as well as domestic partnerships for unmarried couples. As governor, in 2015, he supported allowing same-sex couples to adopt children. After same-sex marriage was legalized nationwide by the Supreme Court's Obergefell v. Hodges decision, Ducey said the state would comply with the law and that there were good people on both sides of the issue. In 2017, he said he would not ask the legislature to pass anti-discrimination laws, but added that he opposed discrimination based on sexual orientation. In April 2019, he signed into law a bill that repealed the sex and health education laws that prohibited the "promotion" of homosexuality as an acceptable "lifestyle."

State firings

Under Ducey, the state government was mandated to "shrink", which led Ducey-appointed administrator Tim Jeffries to fire over 400 state employees at the Arizona Department of Economic Security (DES). Ducey then prohibited the leadership from firing employees. The employees were fired for infractions such as questioning leadership for sending purportedly political emails on government systems. Fired employees will be able to petition for reconsideration of their firings with the state HR chief, though they do not have the rights in employment they once did as state employees because of a law signed by Governor Brewer that converted them to at-will employment in return for bonuses.

State land trust

Ducey was a major proponent of AZ Prop 123, which slowly gleaned more dollars from the state land trust to settle a lawsuit that a judge ruled deprived students and teachers of adequate education funding as mandated by Arizona voters. The Arizona legislature violated the law by funding education in the state below the level required by AZ Prop 301 (Year 2000). Prop 123 settled the lawsuit without raising revenue by increasing distributions from the land trust the federal government bequeathed to the State of Arizona at statehood. Prop 123 also deferred to the legislature, thus overriding Prop 300 in the case the state did not have enough funds for education. Voters essentially undid their Year-2000 mandate. The law was passed with controversy, and many teachers were promised small raises only if the law passed, creating an emergent political issue. With a strong Republican majority, it was not considered politically possible to raise revenue to fund education to the level required, so Prop 123 represented a grand compromise.

Judicial appointments

As of April 2020, Ducey has made 71 judicial appointments, more than any governor in Arizona history, surpassing a record previously held by Governor Bruce Babbitt.

In January 2016, Ducey appointed Clint Bolick to the Arizona Supreme Court.

In May 2016, Ducey signed legislation to expand the court from five justices to seven justices. This legislation was "championed by Republicans but decried by Democrats as an effort by the governor to pack the court with his nominees." In November 2016 Ducey appointed Arizona Court of Appeals Judge Andrew Gould and state Solicitor General John Lopez IV to the two new seats. Lopez is the state's first Latino justice.

In April 2019, Ducey appointed Court of Appeals Judge James Beene to the Arizona Supreme Court.

In September 2019, Ducey controversially appointed Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery to the Arizona Supreme Court. The nomination occurred after Ducey replaced several members of the state's judicial nominating commission, who had refused to submit Montgomery's name for a vacancy earlier in the year.

Ducey has also appointed several judges to state appellate and trial courts. In 2017, he became the first governor since 1991 to appoint a judge from the opposing political party to the Arizona Court of Appeals.

Unemployment benefits

In May 2018 Ducey signed into law a bill that requires individuals who collect unemployment benefits for more than four weeks to take any job that pays 20% more than the unemployment benefits. Unemployment benefits in Arizona are capped at $240 a week or one-half of what individuals earned before they were laid off. The new legislation means that people must take jobs paying $288 a week (approximately $15,000 a year) regardless of what they used to make.

Coronavirus pandemic

On March 30, 2020, Ducey issued a stay-at-home order in response to the coronavirus pandemic. In early May, he ordered easing of restrictions. The reopening contradicted the advice of academic experts. At the same time that Ducey was reopening the state, he ended cooperation with a team of epidemiologists and statisticians from the University of Arizona and Arizona State University. After public condemnation, Ducey resumed the cooperation.

2018 campaign

In 2018 Ducey announced his intention to run for reelection to a second term. He was challenged in the Republican primary by 2014 opponent former Secretary of State of Arizona Ken Bennett, but defeated Bennett by a wide margin. Ducey was reelected in November, defeating Democratic nominee David Garcia.

Ducey is a trustee of the Arizona State University Foundation, serves on the boards of the Banner Health Foundation and the St. John's Jesuit High School Council, and is a member of the Phoenix Thunderbirds and the United Way Alexis de Tocqueville Society.

Ducey has served as president of the Arizona chapter of Young Entrepreneurs' Organization and the Greater Phoenix Economic Club. He is a former Regional Board Member of Teach for America and a former advisory board member of the Pat Tillman Foundation. Ducey has been a board member of the Arizona State Charter School Board, Thunderbird Charities, the Phoenix Zoo and the Arizona chapter of the Young Presidents Organization. He is a past member of Greater Phoenix Leadership, CEO Forum and the Enterprise Network, as well as a past co-chair for the Sojourner Center Capital Campaign. He is a former scholarship board member for the Catholic Community Foundation for the Diocese of Phoenix and serves on its board of directors.

Ducey's honors include the 2002 Spirit of Enterprise Award on behalf of Cold Stone Creamery from the Center for the Advancement of Small Business at the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, and induction into the W.P. Carey School of Business Hall of Fame in 2004. In 2006 he was awarded the MUFSO Golden Chain Award, the nation's highest honor for restaurateurs. Also in 2006 he was named an entrepreneurial fellow for the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona.

In 2007 Ducey was honored with the AFP Spirit of Philanthropy Award, and in 2009 he was named father of the year by the Father's Day Council benefiting the American Diabetes Association. In 2012 he received the Tom and Madena Stewart lifetime compassion award from Make-A-Wish Arizona for creating the World's Largest Ice Cream Social while serving as Cold Stone's CEO.

Ducey met his wife, Angela, while attending Arizona State University. They live in Paradise Valley with their three sons, Jack, Joe and Sam. The Duceys purchased land in Paradise Valley, Arizona in 2005, had a house built there, and listed the home for sale in late 2019 at an asking price of $8.75 million.