After military service on active duty from 1974 to 1977, Griffin graduated from the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in 1983 and worked for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

She received a Juris Doctor from the Boston College Law School in 1993 and held posts in disability advocacy groups and as commissioner of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission until 2009.

After her graduation, Griffin tested medical devices in a laboratory of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in Winchester, Massachusetts.

[2][3] Upon graduation, she was awarded a Skadden Arps Fellowship at the Boston Disability Law Center and worked as Interim President of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy from 1993 to 1994.

[7][8] After being nominated by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the United States Senate[1] she took office on January 3, 2006, to serve the remainder of a five-year term expiring July 1, 2009.