Jennifer M. Granholm Governor of Michigan

JENNIFER M. GRANHOLM was re-elected the 47th governor of Michigan in November 2006.  A fiscal hawk, she has successfully resolved more than $6 billion in budget deficits since taking office in 2003, trimming more from state government than any governor in Michigan's history.  Her aggressive energy efficiency program, for instance, has cut the state's energy costs by almost 20 percent, saving taxpayers more than $20 million.  At the same time, she is working aggressively to diversify Michigan's economy, ensure world-class educational opportunities for every Michigan student, create universal access to affordable health care, and stand up for Michigan workers and families during tough economic times.

Governor Granholm has set in motion an aggressive economic agenda for Michigan.  She has accelerated infrastructure projects to create thousands of jobs for Michigan workers, introduced new job training to prepare unemployed workers for high-demand jobs, reduced cumbersome business permitting time, and signed into law the new Michigan Business Tax (MBT) - the most significant reform of Michigan business taxes in three decades. 

By going anywhere and doing anything to attract business to Michigan, Granholm has convinced companies like Google, Whirlpool, Keebler, Advance Photonix, and Grupo Aernnova to choose Michigan for relocation or expansion.  Her investment missions to Japan, Germany, Sweden, Israel, and Jordan have brought back millions of dollars in new investment and more than 1,000 new jobs.  The creation of an unprecedented $2 billion 21st Century Jobs Fund is helping to spur new job and new company growth in high-tech and alternative energy fields.

To further diversify Michigan's economy, she is working to grow a new alternative energy industry in the state.  In 2008, she pushed for and signed into law a comprehensive reform of Michigan's energy laws, which will ensure that Michigan meets more than 15 percent of its electricity needs with clean resources like renewable energy and energy efficiency by 2015.  These new laws will drive Michigan to create thousands of jobs in these new industries.  Granholm aggressively recruited huge investments from United Solar Ovonic and the Hemlock Semiconductor Corporation, making Michigan a global leader in the production of solar panels.  She is leading Michigan to make wind turbine manufacturing a source of new jobs with dozens of companies recently entering the market.  And she has introduced innovative economic development tools to quickly commercialize new energy products. 

While working to diversify the economy, Granholm continues to work to protect the pocketbooks of Michigan's families and ensure they can access new job opportunities.  Granholm created Michigan's first-ever state-level earned-income tax credit to put more money into the pockets of working families and increased the minimum wage for the first time in nearly a decade.  She continues to push for fair trade policies at the federal level. 

Granholm's focus on families has meant expanded health care coverage for approximately 300,000 uninsured Michiganians, making Michigan the state with the lowest rate of uninsured children in the country (tied with Hawaii).  The Michigan Health Information Network offered more than $5 million in grants in 2007 to create a statewide infrastructure for health information, making Michigan a national leader in this effort.  She saved the state nearly $40 million in 2003 by introducing the nation's first bulk-buying pool for prescription drugs; and in 2004, she extended those savings to citizens by introducing the MiRx Card which provides discount prescription drugs to thousands of uninsured families.  Governor Granholm continues to fight to make health care universally affordable and accessible to everyone in Michigan.  Governor Granholm also introduced the Insurance Pooling Initiative that has made lower home-owners and automobile insurance rates available to metro-Detroit and Flint-area residents.

Despite tough fiscal times, Granholm has increased spending for Michigan's public schools to record levels while holding teachers and students to higher standards and championed universal access to higher education.  In December 2006, Granholm signed legislation creating the Michigan Promise scholarship, a first-in-the-nation program that awards $4,000 to every Michigan student who successfully completes two years of post-secondary education.  In her 2008 State of the State address, she proposed creation of a 21st Century Schools Fund to create smaller, more personal high schools that not only keep at-risk students in school, but also helps them get the college education or technical training they need.

In the first year of her No Worker Left Behind (NWLB) job training program, more than 31,000 displaced workers received tuition-free training for new careers in high-demand areas such as health care and the skilled trades.  The partnering MI Opportunity Partnership program has trained and placed more than 51,000 Michigan workers.  In 2008, the NWLB program introduced one of the country's most aggressive Green Jobs training initiatives that will work closely with employers to train Michigan workers for the clean energy jobs of the future.

Michigan was cited by Governing magazine as the third best-managed state in the nation giving Michigan and the Granholm administration high marks in the areas of money, people, infrastructure, and information management.

Granholm began her career in public service as a clerk for U.S. Judge Damon Keith on the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.  In 1990, Granholm became a federal prosecutor in Detroit, where she maintained a 98 percent conviction rate.  In 1994, Granholm was appointed Wayne County corporation counsel.  She worked to reduce taxpayer-funded lawsuit payouts by 87 percent.  Elected Michigan's first female attorney general in 1998, Granholm continued her fight to protect Michigan's citizens and consumers.  She established the state's first high-tech crime unit to prosecute Internet crimes.

Following the September 11 attacks, Granholm led a multi-agency effort to ensure that Michigan laws could effectively be used to fight terrorism at the state level.  In the wake of the attacks, as well as following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Granholm, an advocate for protecting citizens and their pocketbooks, took swift action to protect consumers from price gouging at the pump by unscrupulous gas station owners.  As attorney general, Granholm also started a successful statewide mentoring initiative.

Jennifer Granholm was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, and is an honors graduate of both the University of California at Berkeley and Harvard Law School.  She serves as the chair of the Health and Human Services Committee of the National Governors Association, and is vice chair of the Midwestern Governors Association.  She and her husband, Daniel G. Mulhern, have three children.

REVISED:  11/19/08