Christine Todd Whitman has spent a distinguished career in public service working to improve the lives of all Americans while serving as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and as the 50th Governor of the State of New Jersey.
Whitman served in the Cabinet of President George W. Bush as EPA Administrator from January 2001 - June 2003. During this time, Whitman delivered on the promise she made when she was sworn in by President Bush: To leave the air cleaner, water purer, and land better protected than when she took office.
Among the noteworthy achievements of her time in office were the introduction of President Bush's Clear Skies Initiative to ensure clean air for all Americans to breathe; the establishment of a watershed based approach to protecting our Nation's lakes, streams, and rivers; and the passage of landmark brownfields legislation that is already bringing economic and environmental vitality back to neighborhoods marred by abandoned industrial sites.
Under Administrator Whitman's leadership, the EPA also entered an historic agreement to clean up the Hudson River, issued the first-ever State of the Environment Report, and for the first time required cleaner burning diesel engines for non-road vehicles such as tractors and bulldozers. Whitman believes strongly that economic success and environmental protection must go hand in hand, which is why she actively promoted partnerships and market incentives such as the Energy Star and Climate Leaders programs.
Prior to leading the EPA, Administrator Whitman served as the 50th Governor of New Jersey, the first female ever to be elected to that State's highest office. In seven years as Governor from 1993 - 2000, Whitman made New Jersey "a great place to live, work, and raise a family."
During her first term, she immediately began delivering on a campaign promise to cut state income taxes by 30 percent for most taxpayers and eliminate them all together for 380,000 low-income families. While cutting taxes more than 50 times during her tenure, Whitman coupled increased state funding for education with higher academic standards for public schools, won approval for a stable funding source to preserve 1 million acres of farmland and open space in the nation's most densely populated state, saw the creation of 375,000 new jobs, and saw crime reduced to its lowest level in 25 years.
Governor Whitman also appointed the first African-American to sit on the state Supreme Court and the first woman to serve as its Chief Justice. In 1995, she became the first governor to deliver the Republican response to a U.S. President's State of the Union Address.
She currently sits on the Board of Directors of S.C. Johnson and Son, Inc., Texas Instruments Incorporated, United Technologies Corporation, and the Chicago Climate Exchange, Inc.
Prior to becoming governor, she was President of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities and served on the Somerset County Board of Freeholders. She grew up in Hunterdon County, New Jersey and earned a bachelor's degree in government from Wheaton College in Massachusetts in 1968. She is married to John R. Whitman. They have two children. |
