Chair's Letter

I would like to thank Governor Evers and Governor DeWine for their leadership of the Conference of Great Lakes St. Lawrence Governors and Premiers over the past four years. We celebrated our achievements at the recent Leadership Summit in Cleveland, and I look forward to continuing this progress as Chair.   

Building up our region’s blue economy will be a focus. Our waters can be a sustainable engine for economic growth. We can attract more investment, people, and businesses looking to call somewhere new home by expanding maritime transportation, tourism, fishing, and clean energy.

This rests on our ongoing collaboration to protect and restore our environment. Enhancing coastal resiliency and promoting sustainable agriculture are two opportunities for further progress. Yet, we must remain focused on preventing invasive carp from entering the Great Lakes by completing the planned barrier at Brandon Road.

In the coming months, we will also grow international engagement with GSGP trade missions to Brazil and Chile; Iceland; Spain, Portugal and Morocco; and South Korea. Separately, we are already hard at work preparing an exciting agenda for our next Leadership Summit that will be hosted by Premier Legault in October 2025 in Quebec City.

I am excited about our work ahead and new opportunities as we continue to build up our region as the best place in the world to live, work, play, and do business.    

Gretchen Whitmer
Chair, Great Lakes St. Lawrence Governors & Premiers 
Governor, State of Michigan