From Aspiring Actor to Law Student

At a moment when our country can feel deeply divided, and when progress on clean energy can feel uncertain, this month's guest — former U.S. Secretary of Energy and two-term Governor of Michigan, Jennifer Granholm — couldn’t be timelier.

It was the perfect moment to take stock of where we are as an industry. After years of historic progress, we’re now facing growing uncertainty about what comes next. The optimism that followed the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and the CHIPS and Science Act can feel harder to access — and yet gatherings like this live recording and New Dawn, our thousand-person sold-out annual party hosted the following evening, remind us how far we’ve come and how powerful it is when this community comes together.

Special thanks to this year’s New Dawn Terawatt sponsors, Silicon Valley Bank and Wilson Sonsini, for helping make gatherings like these possible.

For me, this interview was personal — and a bit of a full-circle moment. I’ve admired Governor Granholm for years. We first met over a decade ago, when she served as a judge for one of Powerhouse’s early hackathons, and even then, her conviction and optimism left a lasting impression.

Her legacy in public service is one of transformation — from rebuilding Michigan’s economy to reshaping the Department of Energy’s role in accelerating the clean energy transition. At DOE, Granholm led an unprecedented expansion of clean energy deployment and manufacturing, rebuilding supply chains, creating jobs, and helping position the United States as a global leader in the energy transition.

In a moment when federal leadership can feel disconnected from what our country truly needs for clean, abundant energy and lasting progress, Governor Granholm is a reminder of what grounded, forward-thinking, and empathetic leadership can achieve. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

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