During his tenure as mayor, he was instrumental in convincing General Motors Corporation to build the Grand River Assembly Plant downtown, and to build a new plant in the region to replace the Lansing Car Assembly Plant which dated back to 1903.

Hollister made central city (including downtown and Old Town) revitalization a top priority of his administration.

He earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Michigan State University.

From 1967 to 1970 he was a social studies teacher at Lansing Eastern High School.

In 2005 he was recruited to run Prima Civitas,[1] an economic development organization funded by Michigan State University and the city governments of Lansing and East Lansing, Michigan.