Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm

About

Jennifer M. Granholm was born in Vancouver, British Columbia.  She was an honors graduate of both the University of California at Berkeley and Harvard Law School. Granholm began her career in public service as a judicial clerk for the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. She became a federal prosecutor in Detroit in 1990. In 1994, Granholm was appointed Wayne County Corporation Counsel. She was elected Michigan’s first female attorney general in 1998. Granholm was elected governor in 2002 and reelected in 2006. As governor she successfully resolved more than $4 billion in budget deficits. She worked to ensure efficient state government spending, while aggressively pursuing her top priority of putting Michigan families first. In 2005, Governing magazine named Michigan the third best-managed state in the nation.

During her tenure as governor, Granholm was also faced with the loss of manufacturing jobs in Michigan, most significantly in the automobile industry. She addressed the problem by successfully promoting a plan to both provide education and training for unemployed and displaced workers and diversify Michigan’s economy by attracting renewable energy companies to the state.

Following his 2008 election to the presidency during one of the worst economic crises in American history, Barack Obama selected Granholm to become a member of his economic advisory team.

Source

Almanac of Famous People. Detroit, MI: Gale Research Inc., 2007.

The Complete Marquis Who’s Who 2010. New Providence, NJ: Marquis Who’s Who.