Doug Ducey

Douglas Anthony Ducey ( DOO-see; né Roscoe Jr.; born April 9, 1964) is an American businessman and Republican politician who served as the 23rd governor of Arizona from 2015 to 2023 as well as Arizona State Treasurer from 2011 to 2015. He also was CEO of the ice cream parlor chain Cold Stone Creamery from 1995 to 2007.

Originally from Ohio, Ducey moved to Arizona to attend Arizona State University (ASU), where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in finance. He began a career in sales and marketing and became chief executive officer of Cold Stone Creamery in 1995. He sold the company in 2007 and was elected Arizona state treasurer in 2010. Ducey won the 2014 Arizona Republican primary for Governor of Arizona and defeated Democratic businessman Fred DuVal in the general election; he took office on January 5, 2015. He was reelected by a wide margin in 2018, defeating Democratic nominee David Garcia.

Ducey's fellow Republican governors elected him chair of the Republican Governors Association for 2021 and co-chair in 2022. Ducey had been mentioned as a possible candidate for the U.S. Senate, but declined to run in the 2024 election against incumbent Kyrsten Sinema. He left office on January 2, 2023, and was succeeded by Democrat Katie Hobbs. In June 2023, he was announced as CEO of Citizens for Free Enterprise, a political action committee focused on economic freedom.

Ducey was born and raised in Toledo, Ohio. He is the son of Madeline Scott and Douglas Roscoe, 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 Roscoe and his siblings in 1976; Roscoe'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.

After graduating from ASU, Ducey joined Procter & Gamble and began a career in sales and marketing. Ducey worked as the CEO of Cold Stone Creamery from 1995 to 2007. When he and his business partner sold the company in 2007, Cold Stone had more than 1,400 locations in the United States and ten 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 was chairman of the board of iMemories, a photo and home movie digitizing service, from 2008 to 2012.

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 was 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.

During his tenure as state treasurer, Ducey created and championed Arizona Proposition 118, a ballot measure to simplify how schools receive funding from Arizona’s State Land Trust. Arizona voters passed Proposition 118 in 2012.

In 2010, Ducey opposed Proposition 204, an effort to create a permanent 1-cent-per-dollar sales tax for public education, transportation and health services. He formally launched a campaign to defeat the proposition, saying, "we don’t need the money" and "this money still does nothing to improve education". Proposition 204 failed, with 63.8% of voters opposing it.

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 conservatives such as Senators Ted Cruz and Mike Lee, as well as Wisconsin 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 other Republicans in Arizona's Congressional delegation. Ducey was endorsed by several organizations, including Arizona Right to Life and the Concerned Women for America.

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

In 2018, Ducey announced his candidacy for reelection. Former Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett challenged him in the Republican primary and lost by a wide margin. Ducey was reelected in November, defeating Democratic nominee David Garcia, 56%-42%.

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. In March 2015, Ducey signed a $9.1 billion budget that eliminated the state's $1.5 billion budget deficit by reducing spending without instituting a tax increase. Ducey has issued balanced budget proposals each fiscal year since 2015.

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.

In April 2016, Ducey signed into law legislation that would bar the state from doing business with companies that boycott Israel.

On March 31, 2017, Ducey signed SB1367, which mandates that doctors treat babies born alive during abortions or induced early deliveries. Late-term abortions had previously been performed in rare circumstances where the life of the baby and the mother was at risk; opponents of the bill said that the new restrictions would force doctors to provide pointless treatment to babies that were not expected to live.

Ducey met his wife, Angela, while attending Arizona State University. They live in Paradise Valley with their three sons. Ducey is a lifelong member of the Catholic Church.