Politics / Business & brands
Rick Snyder
born 1958 · business executive, governor of Michigan
Michigan's governor (2011–2019) who put Detroit under an emergency manager, approved its 2013 bankruptcy filing and backed the 'grand bargain' that ended it.
- Born
Battle Creek, Michigan
age 68- Birth name
- Richard Dale Snyder
- Detroit years
- 1982–1991, 2011–2019
- Field
- Politics, Business & brands
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Rick Snyder, raised in Battle Creek and educated at the University of Michigan, began his career in 1982 in the Detroit office of the accounting firm Coopers & Lybrand before moving into computers and venture capital. Elected governor in 2010 as a self-described 'tough nerd,' he made Detroit's fiscal collapse a defining issue of his tenure. In 2013 he appointed bankruptcy lawyer Kevyn Orr as the city's emergency manager and authorized the July filing, the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. He then pushed the Legislature to add state money to the 'grand bargain' that protected city pensions and kept the Detroit Institute of Arts collection from being sold, and the city exited bankruptcy in December 2014. He also championed the new Detroit–Windsor bridge, now the Gordie Howe International Bridge. His record is shadowed by the Flint water crisis.
Highlights
- 48th governor of Michigan, 2011–2019
- Authorized Detroit's 2013 Chapter 9 bankruptcy filing
- Backed the state's share of the 'grand bargain' saving pensions and DIA art
- Endorsed the Detroit River International Crossing (Gordie Howe bridge) in 2011
- Former chairman of Gateway computers