As Deputy Director for Prosperity, Kim Trent is charged with guiding and building support for efforts to boost the economic security of Michigan citizens through strategic initiatives, programming and partnerships. Her portfolio of leadership duties in state government includes serving as the key staffer to the Michigan Poverty Task Force.

Trent’s career has included leadership roles on the staff of former Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow and former Michigan Governor Jennifer M. Granholm. For seven years, she held various key staff positions at Michigan Future Inc., a think tank dedicated to boosting prosperity in Michigan. She also served as an elected member of the Wayne State University Board of Governors from 2013 until 2019.

Trent’s family first came to Michigan in the 1830s. She grew up in Highland Park and Detroit. She is a graduate of Detroit’s famed Cass Technical High School and holds a BA in journalism and Africana Studies and MA in communications from Wayne State University. She also completed graduate studies at the University of Cape Town in Cape Town, South Africa. She has completed fellowships with the American Political Science Association in Washington D.C. and the Michigan Political Leadership Program at Michigan State University and is a graduate of the Detroit Regional Chamber’s Leadership Detroit program.