Jennifer M.Granholm, Governor of Michigan 2003 - 2011

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Jennifer Granholm is the former governor and attorney general of Michigan. She served as Michigan’s 47th governor from 2003 to 2011 and as Michigan’s Attorney General before that, from 1998-2002. Granholm is one of the leading authorities in the U.S. on clean energy policy. During her tenure, she pioneered clean energy policies, working with business, labor, Republicans and Democrats, to create new economic opportunities in Michigan.

In 2005, the Granholm economic development team put together an aggressive strategy to make Michigan the hub of clean-energy development in North America by developing entire supply chains in Michigan, fostering critical partnerships between industry, government and researchers and by creating economic incentives that made Michigan the place to locate. Granholm’s plan included specific clustering strategies targeted at battery manufacturing, bio-energy, solar, and wind power.

Granholm is an honors graduate of both the University of California at Berkeley and Harvard Law School. She began her career in public service as a judicial clerk for Michigan's 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.  She became a federal prosecutor in Detroit in 1990, and in 1994, she was appointed Wayne County Corporation Counsel.  Granholm was elected Michigan's first female attorney general in 1998. After leaving office, Granholm was an advisor to Pew Charitable Trusts’ Clean Energy Program, where she led a national campaign for clean energy policies. She is a Senior Research Fellow, Berkeley Energy and Climate Institute (BECI) and Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS), and a Distinguished Adjunct Professor, UC Berkeley School of Law & Goldman School of Public Policy.