A Governor’s Story

Jennifer Granholm was the two-term governor of Michigan, a state synonymous with manufacturing during a financial crisis that threatened to put all America’s major car companies into bankruptcy. The immediate and knock-on effects were catastrophic. Granholm’s grand plans for education reform, economic revitalization, clean energy, and infrastructure development were blitzed by a perfect economic storm.

Granholm was a determined and undefeated governor, who enjoyed close access to the White House at critical moments (Granholm stood in for Sarah Palin during Joe Biden’s debate preparation), and her account offers a front row seat on the effects of the crisis. Ultimately, her story is a model of hope. She hauls Michigan towards unprecedented private-public partnerships, forged in the chaos of financial freefall, built on new technologies that promise to revolutionize not only the century-old auto industry but Michigan’s entire manufacturing base. They offer the potential for a remarkable recovery not just for her state, but for American industry nationwide.