Christine Todd Whitman

Christine Todd Whitman
Official portrait as Administrator of the EPA, 2001
Co-chair of the Forward Party
Assumed office
July 28, 2022
Serving with Andrew Yang
Preceded byPosition established
9th Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
In office
January 31, 2001 – June 27, 2003
PresidentGeorge W. Bush
Preceded byCarol Browner
Succeeded byMike Leavitt
50th Governor of New Jersey
In office
January 18, 1994 – January 31, 2001
DeputyDonald DiFrancesco
Preceded byJames Florio
Succeeded byDonald DiFrancesco
President of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities
In office
February 10, 1988 – January 16, 1990
Preceded byBarbara A. Curran
Succeeded byScott Weiner
Member of the Somerset County Board of Chosen Freeholders
In office
January 1, 1983 – January 29, 1988
Preceded byDoris W. Dealaman
Succeeded byKip Bateman
Personal details
Born
Christine Temple Todd

(1946-09-26) September 26, 1946 (age 77)
New York City, U.S.
Political partyForward (2022–present)
Other political
affiliations
Republican (until 2022)
Spouse
(m. 1974; died 2015)
RelativesWebster B. Todd (father)
EducationWheaton College (BA)

Christine Temple Whitman (née Todd; born September 26, 1946) is an American politician and author who served as the 50th governor of New Jersey from 1994 to 2001 and as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2003. As of 2024, Whitman is the only woman to have served as governor of New Jersey.

Born in New York City to a Republican political family, Whitman graduated from Wheaton College in 1968 and began her political career in the Nixon administration's Office of Economic Opportunity. After coming within three percentage points of unseating U.S. Senator Bill Bradley in 1990, she ran for governor of New Jersey, defeating Democratic incumbent Jim Florio. A self-described Rockefeller Republican, Whitman defeated Democrat Jim McGreevey to win re-election in 1997. She remained governor until stepping down in 2001 to become Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, where she served until 2003. During her tenure at the EPA, Whitman was noted for having assured the public that the air in lower Manhattan was safe to breathe following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001; she apologized in 2016 for having made this statement.

In 2022, Whitman joined former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang to form the Forward Party, a centrist third party.