Samuel Scott Olens (born July 8, 1957) is an American lawyer and politician who served as

Attorney General of Georgia The Attorney General of Georgia is the chief law enforcement officer and lawyer for the U.S. state of Georgia. The officeholder is elected to a four-year term at the same time as elections are held for Governor of Georgia and other offices. The c ...

. Olens was elected Georgia AG in 2010, resigning on November 1, 2016 (two years prior to the end of his term), following his appointment as President of

Kennesaw State University Kennesaw State University (KSU) is a public research university located in the state of Georgia with two different campuses in the Atlanta metropolitan area, one in Kennesaw and the other in Marietta on a combined of land. The school was fou ...

. He subsequently resigned as KSU's president on February 15, 2018 and then served as counsel for Dentons global law firm. He was named partner Dentons' Public Policy practice in 2021. Prior to his election as Attorney General, Olens served as chairman of the

Cobb County, Georgia Cobb County is a county in the U.S. state of Georgia, located in the Atlanta metropolitan area in the north central portion of the state. As of 2020 Census, the population was 766,149. Its county seat and largest city is Marietta. Along with ...

Commission from 1998 through 2010. He defeated former

District Attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a l ...

Ken Hodges Kenneth (Ken) B. Hodges III (born September 22, 1965) is a Judge of the Georgia Court of Appeals and the former Dougherty County District Attorney and was the Democratic nominee for Attorney General of Georgia in 2010. In 2015, Hodges started h ...

in the 2010 state elections for Attorney General, becoming the first

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

to win a statewide, partisan race in Georgia. Following Olens's resignation announcement,

Christopher M. Carr Christopher Michael Carr (born February 8, 1972) is an American lawyer and politician. A Republican, he is the current Attorney General of Georgia. In 2016, Governor Nathan Deal appointed Carr as Attorney General to fill a vacancy created by the d ...

was appointed as his successor by

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Nathan Deal John Nathan Deal (born August 25, 1942) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 82nd governor of Georgia from 2011 to 2019. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives as a member of the Democratic Party in 1992 a ...

Early life and education

Olens was born in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, and raised in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...

and

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

from the

Emory University School of Law Emory University School of Law is the law school of Emory University and is part of the University's main campus in Druid Hills, Atlanta, Georgia. It was founded in 1916 and was the first law school in Georgia to be granted membership in the Am ...

in 1983.

Career

Politics

He was elected to the

Cobb County Cobb County is a county in the U.S. state of Georgia, located in the Atlanta metropolitan area in the north central portion of the state. As of 2020 Census, the population was 766,149. Its county seat and largest city is Marietta. Along with ...

Commission in 1998, serving until 2010. He was the commission's chairman from 2002 to 2010. Since 2004, he has served as the chair of the

Atlanta Regional Commission The Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) is the regional planning and intergovernmental coordination agency for the metro Atlanta, Georgia, USA region, defined as the 11-county area of Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fult ...

. In 2009, he stepped down from that position. Olens defeated state senator

Preston Smith Preston Smith may refer to: * Preston Smith (American football coach) (1871–1945), American football coach at Colgate University * Preston Smith (linebacker) (born 1992), American football outside linebacker * Preston Smith (governor) (1912–20 ...

to win the Republican nomination for attorney general. In the general election, he defeated former

Dougherty County Dougherty County is located in the southwestern portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 85,790. The county seat and sole incorporated city is Albany. Dougherty County is included in the Albany, GA Metr ...

. Olens joined forces with legislators to advocate for a stronger human trafficking law in Georgia. HB 200 went into effect on July 1, 2011. Olens worked alongside legislators to pass a re-write of Georgia's Open Meetings and Open Records Laws. HB 397 was the result in the 2012 legislative session, and was signed by Gov. Nathan Deal on April 17, 2012. Olens delivered a primetime address on national healthcare reform and federal regulatory overreach to the

Republican National Convention The Republican National Convention (RNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1856 by the United States Republican Party. They are administered by the Republican National Committee. The goal of the Repu ...

in Tampa on August 29, 2012.

President of Kennesaw State

In mid-September 2016, sources close to the

University System of Georgia The University System of Georgia (USG) is the government agency that includes 26 public institutions of higher learning in the U.S. state of Georgia. The system is governed by the Georgia Board of Regents. It sets goals and dictates general ...

(USG) leaked information that Olens might be on a short list to appointment as president of

, in

Kennesaw Kennesaw is a suburban city northwest of Atlanta in Cobb County, Georgia, United States, located within the greater Atlanta metropolitan area. Known from its original settlement in the 1830s until 1887 as Big Shanty, it became Kennesaw under its 1 ...

, Georgia. The university's previous president, Dr.

Daniel S. Papp Daniel S. Papp (born 1948) is an American scholar of international affairs and policy. Papp served in a variety of professorial and administrative roles in the University System of Georgia (USG) (1973 - 2016). From 2006 to 2016, Papp served as Pre ...

, retired on May 10, 2016, and the University System of Georgia's Chief Academic Officer Dr. Houston Davis was appointed as acting president pending a replacement. Many university staff and student groups objected to the potential appointment, citing Olens's lack of university experience, previous support of Georgia's controversial attempt to ban

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...

, the lack of a national search, and the lack of accountability and transparency in the process through which Sam Olens was chosen. This resulted in multiple campus protests, petitions, and letters from staff to the University System of Georgia administrators. On October 3, 2016,

Hank Huckaby Henry M. Huckaby (December 13, 1941 – April 14, 2021) was an American politician who served as a member of the Georgia House of Representatives for the 113th district in Watkinsville, encompassing parts of Clarke County, Morgan County, Ocone ...

, the Chancellor of the University System of Georgia, sent an open letter to all faculty and students of Kennesaw State University with a confirmation that Olens was indeed being considered for the role of president. On October 4, 2016, Olens participated in an "open interview" before a USG open session of the Board of Regents’ Executive and Compensation Committee, at which time he formally requested the job. Later that afternoon, the USG Chancellor once again notified the Kennesaw State University of the status of Olens's request via email, minutes before a protest, to ask that the university community keep an open mind. Included in the email was a letter from Olens to the Board, in which Olens specifically cited his previous experience as Cobb County Commissioner and his ties to the community. The Board voted on the matter on October 12, 2016, and Olens became Kennesaw State's fourth president under a unanimous vote. His tenure officially began on November 1, 2016. A formal complaint was filed to the

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is a federal agency that was established via the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to administer and enforce civil rights laws against workplace discrimination. The EEOC investigates discrimination ...

by several faculty members who believe that discrimination was evident in Olen's appointment, as three women applied to the position but were apparently not considered. On December 14, 2017, Olens announced his resignation after bowing to behind-the-scenes pressure from conservative Georgia politicians and mishandling protests by cheerleaders.

Electoral history

References

External links

Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens
''official state government site''
Sam Olens
at

Project Vote Smart Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected officials in si ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Olens, Sam 1957 births American University alumni Emory University School of Law alumni Georgia (U.S. state) Attorneys General Georgia (U.S. state) Republicans Jewish American people in Georgia (U.S. state) politics Presidents of Kennesaw State University Living people People from Cobb County, Georgia Politicians from Miami 21st-century American Jews