MSU Dean and Former Insurance Commissioner Join Board

William B. Allen

William B. Allen and D. Joseph Olson have joined the Mackinac Center for Public Policy Board of Directors.

Allen is Dean of James Madison College at Michigan State University and has been a member of the Mackinac Center Board of Scholars since 1995. Previously, he taught at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California, and earned his Ph.D. in Government from the Claremont Graduate School.

Allen is a former member and chairman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and has been a Kellogg National Fellow, Fulbright Fellow, and a member of the National Council on the Humanities. He has edited several essay collections, including George Washington: A Collection and The Essential Antifederalist, and is the author of many essays on American political thought as well as the book Let the Advice Be Good: A Defense of Madison’s Democratic Nationalism.

D. Joseph Olson

D. Joseph Olson is a name familiar to many friends of the Mackinac Center. After helping found the Center in 1987, he was Chairman of the Board of Directors until being appointed as Insurance Commissioner for the State of Michigan in 1995 by Governor John Engler. He served as commissioner until 1997.

Olson is now Vice President and General Counsel for Amerisure Companies of Farmington Hills, after nearly 20 years of experience with Citizens Insurance Company, Beacon Insurance Company, and American Select Insurance Company.

Olson graduated magna cum laude from Oklahoma City University in 1965 with a bachelor of arts degree in political science, and summa cum laude from the University of Santa Clara in 1975 with a Juris Doctor degree. He is a member of the State Bars of Michigan and Texas.