Lawyer Bio : Deborah Pryce

Deborah Pryce represented Ohio’s 15th District in the U.S. House of Representatives for 16 years, earning a reputation as a top Congressional Republican leader and a champion of economic development and public health.

Rep. Pryce served as the House Republican Conference Chairman, making her the fourth-highest ranking Member of Congress and the highest-ranking Republican woman in history. During her tenure in Congress, she also was elected Freshman Class President, House Republican Conference Secretary and Conference Vice-Chair. She also spent 10 years on the critically important House Rules Committee and served as a Deputy Whip.

Rep. Pryce was known for taking a common-sense, consensus-building approach to governing, leading Business Week magazine to dub her “The Peacemaker.” The Columbus Dispatch described her as “discreetly influential” with a “reputation as a quiet leader.”

In 2008, Rep. Pryce chose not to seek a ninth term of office, deciding instead to focus on her family and her legal practice. During her final term in office, Rep. Pryce served as the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance and Government Sponsored Enterprises of the Financial Services Committee. This subcommittee drafts and shapes legislation affecting the insurance and securities industries, including the sweeping Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (EESA), which Congress approved in late 2008 to address the mortgage and lending crisis.

Rep. Pryce was known in Congress as a champion of economic development and job creation. She helped secure federal funding for the Rickenbacker Intermodal facility and the Heartland Corridor projects, which will bring an anticipated 20,000 jobs to central Ohio during the next 20 years.

She also has been a key leader in the fight against cancer, both in Congress and as a private citizen. She co-founded Hope Street Kids, a nonprofit organization that raises money for pediatric cancer research and treatment, and both co-founded and co-chaired the House Cancer Caucus in Congress. In 2006, she won the Distinguished Advocacy Award from the American Cancer Society, the organization’s highest honor.

Before her election to Congress in 1993, Rep. Pryce served as a Municipal Court Judge and prosecutor in Ohio.

Her numerous state and national honors include:

• Champion of Women’s Health Award
• Children’s Advocate Award, Ronald McDonald House Charities 
• Spirit of Enterprise Award, U.S. Chamber of Commerce 
• Guardian of Small Business Award, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
• Manufacturing Award of Excellence, National Association of Manufacturers 
• Friend of the Farm Bureau, American Farm Bureau
• Cancer Leadership Award, Friends of Cancer Research
• National Visionary Leadership Award, Prevent Child Abuse America
• Champion of Change and Women’s Health Advocate Award, Komen Foundation
• Dave Thomas Award, Dave Thomas Center for Adoption Law
• Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame