Former Two-Term Governor of Michigan, Jennifer Granholm, Joins Proterra's Board
Proterra has announced that Jennifer Granholm, the first female former attorney general and two-term governor of Michigan, has joined its board of directors. A leading voice for American jobs and manufacturing, Granholm has an esteemed track record for producing a high quality clean energy and transportation workforce in the Midwest. Most notably, Granholm has been a defining voice and leader in the economic revitalization of industrial communities. As Proterra moves into its next phase of strategic growth and national deployment, her wealth of expertise in policy, clean energy and manufacturing will serve as a major asset to Proterra's leadership team.
"The transition to an all-electric, energy efficient transit system is well underway, so it's critical that America seize this moment to innovate, lead and cement local, high-skilled manufacturing jobs," said Jennifer Granholm. "I'm proud to support Proterra as it continues to bring more jobs, more dollars and more opportunities to the domestic transportation sector."
As the governor of Michigan, Granholm played a leading role in Michigan's economic recovery by diversifying local industry and creating a clean energy hub for the state. Granholm's novel approach to creating middle class jobs and incentivizing supply chains to co-locate in Michigan attracted leading manufacturers in energy storage, solar, wind and bio-energy. Her plan focused on fostering critical partnerships among industry, government and researchers, which catalyzed investment totaling $9.4 billion and created more than 89,000 clean energy jobs.
More Demand, More Deployments: Proterra's ramps up manufacturing
Already, more than 75 percent of the materials used to manufacture Proterra's high-performance Catalyst® buses are American-made, exemplifying Granholm's vision for an infrastructure model that prioritizes domestic job growth and economic empowerment. With U.S. suppliers, manufacturing facilities in South Carolina and California, and a base of its battery-electric buses sold into 36 cities across the country, Proterra continues to demonstrate its commitment to both the U.S. transit market and domestic manufacturing sector that serves it. In 2016, Proterra more than doubled sales growth and expects to triple overall production in 2017.
"We believe that American market demand can be met by American supply, so it's a major win to have former governor and American manufacturing advocate Jennifer Granholm join the Proterra board as we ramp production," said Ryan Popple, CEO of Proterra. "Her policy leadership and industry success in growing high-end manufacturing will be invaluable to the company and the mass transit market, which we expect to transition to all-electric buses by 2030."
