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Chris Gregoire currently serves as the chair of the National Governors Association. She became Washington's 22nd governor in 2005. Through the economic crisis she has ably led her state through several billion dollars in reductions and a transformative agenda to build a 21st government that is modern, lean and efficient. She is focused on education, modernizing pension and health care costs and streamlining government services and delivery. Under her leadership Washington consistently ranks as a top place to do business and raise a family.

Prior to serving as Governor, Gregoire served three terms as attorney general—the first woman to be elected to the position in Washington. She led a statewide program that resulted in a comprehensive reform of the state's juvenile system, fought to pass tougher ethics laws for state government, sought alternatives to litigation for legal disputes, and to protect privacy and combat identity theft. Gregoire was the lead negotiator in the groundbreaking settlement of state lawsuits against the tobacco industry and was named the most influential attorney general in the country by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. Gregoire was appointed in 1988 to serve as director of the Washington Department of Ecology, where she negotiated the safe cleanup and permanent storage of radioactive wastes at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.

She was raised in Auburn, Washington by her mother, who worked as a short order cook. She rode horses, picked blueberries and learned the value of hard work and a good education. After graduating from Auburn High School, she attended the University of Washington. She graduated with a teaching certificate and a bachelor of arts degrees in speech and sociology. She received her law degree in 1977 from Gonzaga University and an honorary Doctor of Law degree from Gonzaga in 1995.

Gregoire met her husband, Mike, in 1971 when they both worked for the Washington Department of Social and Health Services. They have two adult daughters: Courtney, an attorney and Michelle, a law-school student.