Jennifer Granholm (5 February 1959-) was the Democratic Governor of Michigan from 1 January 2003 to 1 January 2011 (succeeding John Engler and preceding Rick Snyder) and the United States Secretary of Energy from 25 February 2021 (succeeding Dan Brouillette).
Biography[]
Jennifer Granholm was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, the granddaughter of Irish, Swedish, and Newfoundlander immigrants. She moved to Anaheim, San Jose, and San Carlos, California from the age of four, and he abandoned her efforts at becoming an actress and instead became a lawyer and a Democratic activist. She clerked for Judge Damon Keith before serving as a Wayne County, Michigan attorney from 1989 to 1991, an Assistant Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan from 1991 to 1995, Corporation Counsel for Wayne County from 1995 to 1999, Attorney General of Michigan from 1999 to 2003, and Governor of Michigan from 2003 to 2011. Granholm oversaw efforts to attract young people and businesses to her state, made budget cuts to deal with a $1.7 billion deficit, and supported the diversification of Michigan's economy away from its historical reliance on automotive manufacturing. She went on to serve on Barack Obama's transition team in 2009, and she became a political commentator after leaving office. In 2021, President Joe Biden appointed Granholm as Secretary of Energy, and she oversaw closer cooperation with Saudi Arabia in the energy field and cleared J. Robert Oppenheimer of the 1954 revocation of his security clearance for his communist associations.