Politics / Business & brands
Shri Thanedar
born 1955 · chemist, entrepreneur, politician
Indian-born chemist and entrepreneur who moved to Michigan in 2010, won the city of Detroit in the 2018 governor's primary and represented Detroit in Congress from 2023.
- Born
Chikkodi, India
age 71- Birth name
- Shrinivas Prasad Thanedar
- Also known as
- Shrinivas Prasad Thanedar
- Detroit years
- 2010s–
- Field
- Politics, Business & brands
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Thanedar was born in 1955 in Chikkodi, in today's Karnataka, India, and came to the United States in 1979 to earn a doctorate in chemistry at the University of Akron. He founded the testing laboratory Chemir in St. Louis in 1991 and later sold it after bankruptcy proceedings during the recession; he told his immigrant story in the memoir The Blue Suitcase (2008). In 2010 he moved to Michigan, starting the Ann Arbor lab Avomeen. He entered politics with a self-funded run in the 2018 Democratic primary for governor, finishing third statewide but winning the city of Detroit. He then moved to Detroit and represented the city's east side in the Michigan House from 2021 to 2023, and in 2022 he was elected to Congress for Michigan's 13th district, which covers most of Detroit. His tenure was marked by clashes with the city's left, and in 2026 he lost the Democratic primary to Donavan McKinney.
Highlights
- Came to the US in 1979; PhD in chemistry, University of Akron
- Won the city of Detroit in the 2018 governor's primary
- Michigan state representative for Detroit, 2021–2023
- US Representative for Michigan's 13th district from 2023
- Author of the memoir The Blue Suitcase (2008)