JOHN AUSTIN is a Nonresident Senior Fellow with the Brookings Institution, as well as a Michigan statewide elected official.

John Austin, 44, is a Nonresident Senior Fellow with the Brookings Institution, as well as a Michigan statewide elected official, serving as Vice-President of the Michigan State Board of Education. Mr. Austin is also a Lecturer at the University of Michigan School of Architecture and Urban Planning, and Senior Fellow with the University of Michigan's School of Education - National Forum on Higher Education for the Public Good.

Mr. Austin has over 20 years experience in political and public policy leadership. Mr. Austin currently is leading a Great Lakes Economic Initiative for the Brookings Institution, designed to improve the economic vitality of the Great Lakes states. Recently, Mr. Austin served as Policy Director for Michigan's Governor-appointed Commission on Higher Education and Economic Growth (the Cherry Commission) and was principal author of the Commission's report. He co- authored the influential report Revitalizing Michigan Cities, with Michigan Future, Inc., and has helped Michigan's Department of Labor and Economic Development to reshape Michigan's economic, workforce and urban development agenda. Austin has worked with city and state governments, federal agencies and officials, as well as national foundations, corporations and labor organizations on a wide variety of public policy issues.

Early in his career Mr. Austin served as President of the Flint Roundtable, a multi-sector CEO leadership organization in Genesee County, Michigan focused on regional education reform, where he developed nationally recognized education programs. In addition he was chairman of the Genesee County Road Commission. Prior to settling in Michigan, Mr. Austin served as a special assistant to Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, and on the staff of the Massachusetts Secretary of Economic Affairs. Mr. Austin is a Board Member of Michigan Common Cause, and the Michigan League of Conservation Voters.

Austin received his Masters in Public Administration from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and a Bachelors from Swarthmore College in Economics & Political Science, Phi Beta Kappa. Mr. Austin has been married 19 years to his wife Terese. They and their three school-age children reside in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

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