Dustin Corcoran, who has worked for CMA for nearly 12 years, has been promoted to chief executive officer.

Corcoran has advocated tirelessly for California physicians and patients since 1998 and led CMA’s lobbying efforts for five years before becoming Deputy CEO last fall. The CMA Board of Trustees voted to approve Corcoran’s appointment at its quarterly meeting on January 29.

Corcoran joined CMA in 1998 as the membership coordinator for its political action committee. When an opportunity arose to work as a lobbyist under the legendary late Steve Thompson, he jumped at the chance. Over the next six years, Thompson mentored Corcoran, who was responsible for bills related to access to care, emergency medicine, hospitals, tobacco usage, public health and health care system reform.

Corcoran played an important part in lobbying the Legislature to pass, and Governor Gray Davis to sign, SB 2, groundbreaking legislation that required employers to provide their workers with health insurance or pay a fee. The bill would have extended coverage to more than 1 million uninsured Californians, but voters subsequently narrowly overturned the law, after restaurants and retailers heavily financed a campaign against it.

After Thompson’s death in 2004, Corcoran took over as CMA’s head lobbyist and went on to become Senior Vice President. Corcoran was named the most effective lobbyist under 40 in 2005 by Around the Capitol and one of the 100 most powerful political brokers in California in 2009 by Capitol Weekly.

Contact: Andrew Lamar, 916/551-2881 or alamar@cmanet.org.