Findlay attorney R. Benjamin Franz, a resident of Delaware, has been elected to serve a three-year term as District 3 representative on the board of governors of the Ohio State Bar Association.

Franz was elected to his new post by area lawyers at an association district meeting several months ago.

Franz currently serves as in-house counsel for Findlay-based Marathon Petroleum Co. LP, where he provides environmental legal support for the company’s network of seven petroleum refineries in the Midwest and Gulf Coast regions.

He earned his undergraduate degrees in history and German language and literature from Ohio State University and his law degree, cum laude, from Capital University law school.

Before joining Marathon, he served as an assistant attorney general in the Environmental Enforcement Section of the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, and was a member of the environmental law practice at Ulmer & Berne LLP.

Franz currently serves as vice chair of the OSBA’s environmental law committee.

Franz’s wife, Andrea M. Salimbene, is a partner in the law firm of McMahon DeGulis LLP and currently serves on OSBA’s council of delegates. They reside in Delaware and welcomed their first child in April.

District 3 includes 466 practicing members who live or work in Defiance, Fulton, Hancock, Henry, Mercer, Paulding, Putnam, Van Wert and Williams counties. The 24-member board of governors meets every other month to manage the association’s business affairs, set policy, review pending legislation and conduct other business on behalf of the 22,000 Ohio lawyers who are OSBA members.