Paul Gieleghem was born in Detroit, Michigan, in July 1970. His family moved to Clinton Township in 1971, where he attended Clintondale Community Schools. Paul’s journey in public service began in high school and continued throughout college as a volunteer and staff member for Congressman David Bonior. He earned degrees in business from Macomb Community College and public relations from Wayne State University.
Paul’s broad approach to leadership and focus on problem-solving were formulated while he served the residents of Clinton Township, Mount Clemens, and Fraser in the Michigan House of Representatives from 1999 to 2004. As a state representative, he fought to improve public schools and educational outcomes while preserving special education requirements. In 2002, the Michigan Association of Intermediate School Superintendents named him “Legislator of the Year.”
Paul has always been vigilant about threats to the environment. He worked to curb the flow of out-of-state and Canadian waste flooding Michigan landfills, which led to his being named “Environmentalist of the Year” by the Sierra Club of Michigan in 2004.
On the healthcare front, he helped ensure that families and doctors kept the right to make their medical decisions, not the insurance companies. Paul was part of the effort to ensure that ambulances in Michigan were equipped with epinephrine to protect people with severe allergies from anaphylactic shock while being transported to a hospital. In 2005, he was recognized by the Allergy and Asthma Foundation of Michigan for his legislation protecting severely allergic patients. Also, he was presented with the Presidential Recognition Award by the Michigan Society for Clinical Laboratory Science.
From 2005 to 2010, he served on the Macomb County Board of Commissioners, where his colleagues elected him Chairman of the Board from 2009 to 2010 in the wake of the global economic crisis of 2008. During this time, Paul is credited with implementing reforms and cost-cutting, creating innovative partnerships to preserve services, ramping up the county’s economic development outreach, and leading by example, cutting commissioners’ pay before asking others to sacrifice. In 2009, he made the Crain’s Detroit Business “40 under 40” list of business and civic leaders in Metropolitan Detroit.
Prior to the 2016 election, Paul was an administrator, managing core functions of the Macomb County Treasurer’s office. From 2012 to 2016, he served as an elected part-time Trustee on the Clinton Township Board, learning the inner workings of the township government.
From 2016 to 2024, Paul served as the elected Treasurer of Clinton Township, a position responsible for meeting statutorily defined tax requirements, safeguarding township funds, maximizing investment gains, and providing oversight, planning, and policy for all functions of Township government as a voting member on the Board of Trustees. Within that work, he was proud to have earned designations as a Certified Public Funds Investment Manager (CPFIM) and Michigan Certified Public Treasurer (MiCPT).
As a policy maker, Paul has served on or chaired various committees, boards, and commissions. He’s been a member of the Clintondale Educational Foundation for more than 20 years and coordinated the Clinton Township Community Blood Drive for eight years, one of the largest of its kind in southeast Michigan.
In 2024, Clinton Township voters elected Paul as their first new supervisor in more than two decades. Paul brings managerial experience and a leader’s wide-angle approach to problem-solving to the supervisor role. Throughout his lifelong commitment to the community, Paul has demonstrated expertise and a profound drive to improve the lives of Township residents and families.
Paul and his wife, Sara, have been married for 27 years. Together, they have two daughters who attended Chippewa Valley Schools and are working to earn degrees from Oakland and Michigan State Universities.