Renée D. McKinney joined the Board of Governors this summer and was appointed by University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel to serve until 2023. She is a 1991 University of Michigan graduate (A.B.History) and a 1995 graduate (MILS with a concentration in Archives and Records Management). Renée lived at Martha Cook Building from 1989-1991 and 1994-1995 and served on House Board as Service Chairwoman from 1989-1990. Renée served on the Martha Cook Alumnae Association Board from 2017-2020 and as Treasurer from 2019-2020 when she resigned to join the Board of Governors.
Renée is a labor law attorney and a former academic librarian. Active in her professional field and a member of the Grosse Pointe Democratic Club and Grosse Pointe-Harper Woods NAACP Branch, her personal interests include ensuring voting rights and voting access, criminal record expungement for citizens who have paid their debt to society, gardening, history and literature, theater, and modern and contemporary art and design. A Detroit native, Renée returned to the area in 2016 after living in various cities around the United States since 1995.