Margita Thompson

Vice President Corporate Communication
Health Net Incorporated

Margita Thompson has a distinguished background in national and international public policy, media relations and communications in the private and government arenas.

She is currently Vice President for Corporate Communications at Health Net, Inc., one ofthe nation’s largest publicly traded managed health care companies. Thompson’s purview includes media relations, reputation management and communicating with the public and business partners about the Fortune 200 company and the health care industry – a leading issue on the national agenda.

Thompson most recently served as Press Secretary for California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, leading the media relations strategy for the Administration that directs a then annual $131+ billion state budget. As a member of the senior staff, Thompson served as a key advisor to the Governor on media strategy, crisis and issues management and led the Administration’s local, national and international press relations.

Prior to her appointment in the Schwarzenegger administration, Thompson served as the Political Producer for Larry King Live in Washington, D.C., CNN’s highest-rated, award-winning political news program. During her tenure with King, she secured Generals Richard Myers, Hugh Shelton and Peter Pace directly from the Pentagon at the beginning of the war in Iraq; Senator Trent Lott’s first television interview after the remarks that caused him to resign as Majority Leader; and a rare interview with FBI Director Robert Mueller as lead content for the program.

Before working for CNN, Thompson worked at the White House in the Office of the Vice President as Press Secretary to Mrs. Lynne Cheney. She worked prior as the California Press Secretary for Bush for President during the 2000 election, serving as the principal contact for all California-based and Spanish-language media. While at the White House, Thompson led the press advance for First Lady Laura Bush’s first solo trip to Europe.

Thompson worked as Director of Republican External Affairs for TechNet, serving as a founding staff member of the bipartisan, political network of CEOs and Senior Executives that promotes the growth of technology and the innovation economy.She also served as Vice President for Public Strategies Inc. in Texas, where she had a special focus on the Mexican government and politics, telecommunications and the California market. While at Public Strategies Inc. she managed a program to help secure Congressional recertification of Mexico as cooperating in the war against drugs and developed a plan for Mexico’s Ambassador and Consuls General throughout the United States to highlight areas of binational cooperation focusing on drug seizures, extraditions and enforcement.

HispanicBusiness Magazine named Thompson one of its 2010 Corporate Elite. In 2009, she was Co-Chair of Latina Action Day for HOPE (Hispanas Organized for Political Equality). Thompson serves as the State Senate appointee to the Board of Trustees, California State Summer School for the Arts and Maria Shriver appointed her to the Board of Directors for the California Governor and First Lady’s Conference on Women. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the Center for Governmental Studies and recently completed the Latino Leadership Institute at UCLA’s John E. Anderson Graduate School of Management. Thompson earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley. She graduated with her Master of Public Policy degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where she was named the Parker Montgomery Fellow for distinguished leadership in California.