Janet Blanchard

For almost 20 years, Janet A. Blanchard’s name has been well-known and recognized among public servants. Since the early 1980s, she has worked in Michigan government in the departments of Education, Commerce, Civil Service, Labor, Management and Budget, and finally as Michigan’s first lady and wife of former Governor James Blanchard. She also served as associate director of presidential personnel for the Clinton White House, where she oversaw the selection and appointment of 300 Presidential boards and commissions and another 800 boards and commissions for the federal government. Her career highlights include serving as Michigan’s deputy director of the Cabinet Council on Human Investments and cochair of the Governor’s Telecommunications Task Force. Blanchard is also noted for her many community-building activities, including serving as spokesperson for the Michigan Neighbor Builders Alliance and the Michigan Children’s Trust Fund, for which she helped raise nearly $1 million to support child abuse and neglect prevention. She also served on the board of directors for the Centre for Studies of Children at Risk in Hamilton, Ontario. She was also a trustee of the Michigan 4-H Foundation.