Jim Townsend

Governor Gretchen Whitmer has appointed James H. (Jim) Townsend, of Royal Oak, to serve as the new Chair of the Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB), effective August 1, 2026.

Townsend is the director of the Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy at Wayne State University. He previously practiced law in the Detroit office of Butzel Long as a member of its Corporate and Real Estate Practice Group, and represented the 26th District in the Michigan House of Representatives from 2011 to 2017.

Townsend graduated with Highest Honors in History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, earned a Master of Business Administration and Master of Public Policy from the University of Michigan, and earned his Juris Doctor, cum laude, from Wayne State University Law School.