James Jim Canepa

James "Jim" Canepa is Superintendent of the Division of Liquor Control. He joined the division in February 2017 to provide project leadership for the Liquor Modernization Project (LMP), the state’s effort to modernize systems and processes across the liquor enterprise. Under Canepa’s leadership, the division has replaced a 40-year-old inventory system with the Microsoft Dynamics AX system, added 17 new Liquor stores towards the goal of 20 by January 2019, reduced delisted inventory by 58% (75,418 bottles) since November 2017, and has started the process of enterprise-wide merchandise-category optimization with 125 of 465 Liquor stores scheduled to be re-set by October 2018.

Prior to joining the division, Canepa served as Chief of Staff and Legal Affairs for the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. In this role, he managed the Agency’s Legal Affairs, regulatory compliance and enforcement, and criminal investigation and enforcement. He has served in numerous leadership roles in the Ohio state government, including Chief Legal Counsel with the Ohio Department of Public Safety, Deputy Inspector General with the Office of the Ohio Inspector General, and First Assistant Attorney General for the Ohio Attorney General. In these roles, he was responsible for overseeing legal affairs, complex projects, and process improvements. Canepa began his career with the Franklin County, Ohio, Prosecutor’s Office, where he served as an Appellate Prosecutor and a Senior Trial Prosecutor. In those roles, he defended felony convictions in the Tenth District Court of Appeals (Ohio) and the Ohio Supreme Court, and supervised and litigated felony criminals in trials in common pleas court, respectively.