John Mathias Engler (born October 12, 1948) is an American politician, lawyer, businessman, and lobbyist who served as the 46th governor of Michigan from 1991 to 2003. He is known as one of the country's top lobbyists and is a member of the Republican Party.

Engler was working in the Michigan Senate when he attended Thomas M. Cooley Law School and earned a law degree. He had been a member of the Michigan State Senate since 1979. In 1984, he became the Senate majority leader and held this position until he was elected governor in 1990. He was reelected in 1994 and 1998, making him the last Michigan governor to serve more than two terms. After his time as governor, he worked for Business Roundtable.

Engler was a member of the board of advisors for the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal, an educational organization that honors the ideas of Russell Kirk, a well-known conservative and Michigan native. He also served on the board of trustees for the Marguerite Eyer Wilbur Foundation, which supports many programs at the Kirk Center. Engler was a member of the Annie E. Casey Foundation board of trustees until 2014. As of 2018, he serves on the board of directors for Universal Forest Products. Earlier, he was a director of Dow Jones and Delta Air Lines and a trustee of Munder Funds.

Early life and education

Engler was born on October 12, 1948, in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. His parents were Mathias John Engler and Agnes Marie (née Neyer). He grew up on a cattle farm near Beal City.

He attended Michigan State University and earned a degree in agricultural economics in 1971. He later attended Thomas M. Cooley Law School and received a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree in 1981.

He was elected to the Michigan House of Representatives as a state representative in 1970 when he was 22 years old. He served in the House from 1971 to 1978. His campaign manager during his first election was Dick Posthumus, a college friend. Engler later became the first Republican youth vice-chair for the Michigan Republican Party, defeating Spencer Abraham, who later became a U.S. Senator. Posthumus later became a state senator, Senate Majority Leader, and Lieutenant Governor. He was Engler's running mate in the 1998 election and served from 1999 to 2003.

Career

Engler's administration focused on transferring state services to private companies, reducing income taxes, increasing sales taxes, reforming education and welfare programs, and reorganizing executive branch departments.

In 1996, he was elected chairman of the Republican Governors Association. In 2001, he was elected to lead the National Governors Association.

In 2002, near the end of his final term, Engler and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality tried to negotiate an agreement with Dow Chemical. This agreement would have allowed much higher levels of dioxins in the environment. It would have also allowed Dow to avoid paying for cleanup efforts in Midland, Michigan, and the Tittabawassee flood plain, which had been polluted by dioxins from the company’s operations. The agreement was not completed by late 2002.

During the 1996 presidential election, Engler was considered a possible vice presidential candidate for Republican nominee Bob Dole. Instead, Dole chose Jack Kemp, a former representative and HUD secretary.

Engler supported Texas Governor George W. Bush in the 2000 Republican primary. After Bush became the GOP nominee, Engler was again suggested as a potential running mate. In his book Decision Points, Bush wrote that Engler was someone he was "close" with and could "work well with." However, Bush chose Dick Cheney as his running mate instead. After the election, Engler’s political ally Spencer Abraham, who lost his Senate re-election bid to Debbie Stabenow, was named Secretary of Energy by Bush.

Engler’s lieutenant governor, Dick Posthumus, tried to replace him in the 2002 gubernatorial race. Posthumus lost to the state’s attorney general, Democrat Jennifer Granholm.

In 1990, Engler, then the state senate majority leader, ran against Governor James Blanchard for a third term. Polls showed Engler trailing by double digits before the election. However, he won by about 17,000 votes—a margin of less than one percentage point. In 1994, Engler ran for his second term. The Democrats nominated Howard Wolpe, a former representative with strong ties to the labor movement. Engler defeated Wolpe 61 to 39 percent. The Republican Party made significant gains during this election. Spencer Abraham won the Senate seat of retiring Democrat Donald Riegle. Republicans gained a seat in the state House of Representatives, achieving a 56–54 majority, and also won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Republican Candice Miller won an upset victory to become Secretary of State.

Michigan voters re-elected Engler to his third and final term in 1998. He won a large victory over lawyer Geoffrey Fieger, receiving 1,883,005 votes (62 percent) compared to Fieger’s 1,143,574 votes (38 percent). This win helped the state Republican Party gain six seats in the state House of Representatives, regaining control with a 58–52 majority, and also secured an additional seat in the State Senate, achieving a 23–15 majority. Republicans gained a seat on the non-partisan state Supreme Court, holding a 4–3 majority over Democrats.

After leaving the governor’s office in January 2003, Engler became president of the state and local government sector of Electronic Data Systems. He left that position in June 2004 to become president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers. His tenure at the NAM ended in January 2011. In January 2011, Engler was named president of the Business Roundtable.

In 2017, Engler was appointed to a four-year term on the governing board of the National Assessment of Educational Progress project.

On January 30, 2018, Engler was named interim president of Michigan State University to replace Lou Anna Simon, who was involved in the USA Gymnastics sex abuse scandal linked to Larry Nassar. This appointment caused controversy due to Engler’s past handling of sexual misconduct cases as governor. His time as interim president was marked by controversy, including statements and actions during Board of Trustees meetings that upset survivors of Nassar’s abuse. One survivor, Rachael Denhollander, stated that Engler “chose to stand against every child and every sexual assault victim in the entire state, to protect an institution.”

Engler resigned on January 16, 2019, after the Board of Trustees indicated it intended to ask him to resign following a series of incidents involving Nassar’s victims and his responses to the aftermath. Engler initially planned to resign on January 23, 2019, but the Board required him to resign the morning after he submitted his resignation letter.

Personal life

In 1975, Engler married Colleen House, who worked in the Michigan House of Representatives before running for lieutenant governor of Michigan in 1986. The day after she lost the race for lieutenant governor, she filed for divorce. The couple did not have any children together; she remarried in 2002 and passed away in 2022.

Engler married Michelle DeMunbrun, a Texas attorney, on December 8, 1990. The couple has three daughters who were born on November 13, 1994. As First Lady, Michelle Engler served as the first chairperson of the Michigan Community Service Commission. Michelle Engler was appointed to the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) board in 2001 by President George W. Bush and reappointed in 2002.