Jennifer Granholm was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. At the age of 4, she moved with her family to the US, settling in California. After graduating high school, she worked in various jobs, including as a tour guide at Universal Studios, in customer service at the Los Angeles Times, and at John B. Anderson’s presidential campaign. She studied Political Science and French at the University of California, Berkeley, then continued to a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard University, where she met her future husband, a fellow law student named Daniel Mulhern. After graduating with honors, she was active in the Michael Dukakis presidential campaign for the 1988 election while working as a clerk for Judge Damon Keith at the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Granholm started working as an attorney in the Wayne County executive office, where she prosecuted gang members, drug dealers, and child pornographers. At the age of 36, she was appointed to the Corporation Counsel for Wayne County – the youngest person to serve in this post.
In 1998, she won a close and dirty race for Michigan Attorney General – the first woman in this position. In-office, she established Michigan’s first High Tech Crime Unit, sued RVP Development for the disruption of Lake Michigan, and enforced regulations on gasoline dealers in the state.
In 2002, she entered the race as the Democratic candidate for Governor of Michigan. She won and became the first woman to serve as Governor of the state of Michigan. As Governor, Granholm pushed for education reform, promoting education for children from birth to age 5, advocating for post-secondary education, and leading the state to double its number of college graduates. Under her leadership, she led Michigan through the national crisis of 2008, channeling $2 billion to attract jobs and investing in clean energy, homeland security, and manufacturing sectors. During her eight years in office, the state of Michigan had attracted 4,000 companies and became the 2nd highest state in the country with child health care coverage.
After leaving office in 2011, she began to teach law and public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and became a senior research fellow at the Berkeley Energy and Climate Institute. She founded the American Jobs Project at UC Berkeley, served as a senior advisor for The Pew Charitable Trusts’ Clean Energy Program. She is a board member of the Dow Chemical Company and of The University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics. She is also a regular contributor to CNN, serving as a Managing Partner of RIDGE-LANE LP company and chairing the Priorities USA Action as well as the American Jobs Project.
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