Sue Ellspermann has served as President of Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana since 2016. Ivy Tech is the nation’s largest singly accredited statewide community college, serving nearly 200,000 students with more than 70 programs and 19 campuses across Indiana and online. More than 90,000 of these students are earning college credit while in high school, making Ivy Tech the nation’s largest NACEP accredited institution. The College also offers the nation’s largest associate degree nursing program, with over 1,500 graduates each year.
Ellspermann’s focus has been to align programs and credentials to meet industry needs and ensure access, quality, and affordability to all Hoosiers. Under her leadership, Ivy Tech offered the first Industry 4.0 associate degree and Ivy+ Career Link, a transformative approach to career development services that provides comprehensive, scaled career coaching, work-and-learn opportunities, and employer connections. Ellspermann led the development of Ivy Tech’s new strategic plan, Higher Education at the Speed of Life, which focuses on scale, innovation, and agility to ensure student success and meet talent upskilling needs for a prosperous economy.
Prior to leading Ivy Tech, Ellspermann served as Indiana’s 50th Lieutenant Governor from 2013 to 2016. In this capacity, she served as President of the Senate, Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and oversaw six state agencies. Ellspermann co-chaired the Blue Ribbon Panel on Transportation Infrastructure and led trade missions to Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and China.
Ellspermann represented District 74 in rural southwest Indiana in the state House of Representatives from 2010 to 2012. From 2006 to 2012, Ellspermann served as the founding Director of the Center of Applied Research and Economic Development at the University of Southern Indiana (USI) which engaged faculty, staff and students in more than 200 economic and workforce development projects.
Ellspermann’s educational and workforce development experience is extensive. As Lieutenant Governor, she served as vice chair of the Indiana Career Council, tasked to align Indiana’s education and workforce development system to meet employer needs. She also served on the Indiana State Workforce Investment Board. As a legislator, Ellspermann served on Commerce and Labor committees and co-authored Right-to-Work legislation that has since attracted robust economic development to Indiana. In 2016, Ellspermann participated in the Hunt-Kean Leadership Fellows, a program that convenes reform-oriented state leaders to study best practices and policy in education and workforce.
During the 20 years prior to her tenure at USI, Ellspermann owned and operated an independent consulting firm licensed in the training and facilitation of Simplex Creative Problem Solving to lead transformation, continuous improvement, and strategic planning on behalf of clients. Early in her career, she held operations and engineering positions at Frito-Lay, Michelin Tire Corporation, and General Motors.
Ellspermann holds a Ph.D. and M.S. from the University of Louisville in Industrial Engineering and a B.S. from Purdue University in Industrial Engineering. Ellspermann’s dissertation was recognized as a Top 50 management research article in 2007 by Emerald Management Review.
Ellspermann chairs the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership Board of Directors and serves on the Governor’s Workforce Cabinet, Indiana Chamber, Indy Chamber, Applied Research Institute, and Center for Leadership Development boards. Her corporate board service includes OneAmerica, German American Bancorp, and OFS. Ellspermann joined the Strada Board of Trustees, in 2024, and serves on the National Engagement and Policy & Advocacy committees.
She and her husband Jim Mehling have a blended family of four daughters, three sons-in-law, six grandsons, and three granddaughters.