Mr. Hollister has dedicated his entire life to public service. He began his career as a high school teacher in the 1960s after graduating with honors from Michigan State University. His political career began during his tenure as a teacher in the Lansing Public Schools, when he was elected in 1968 as an Ingham County Commissioner, serving through 1974.
In 1974, Mr. Hollister launched a successful campaign for the Michigan House of Representatives, where he served until 1993. He quickly became recognized as one of the top ten legislators, serving on the powerful Appropriations Committee for 16 years and chairing the Appropriations Subcommittee on Social Services for over a decade.
In 1993, Mr. Hollister ran a successful campaign for Mayor of the City of Lansing and was re-elected to his third term in a landslide victory in November, 2001. Hollister’s successes as Mayor included over $2.9 billion in investments, including building a new regional transportation center downtown, bringing minor league baseball to Lansing, and striking a partnership with the State of Michigan that includes news buildings for the Legislature, the Supreme Court, and various other departments. Regional partnerships were created with local governments to enable location of a major insurance company’s corporate world headquarters in Lansing and development of a new golf course and upscale housing development. One of the Mayor’s most exciting successes was the commitment by General Motors to consolidate operations and build two new state-of-the-art assembly plants in Lansing.
