Richard Tate is executive vice president of The California Wellness Foundation, where he leads strategy development, public affairs, learning and innovation. He serves as chief deputy to the president and CEO and plays a key role in aligning Cal Wellness’ board, management and staff on organization-wide efforts to advance the foundation’s mission and vision. Tate will assume the role of the foundation's next president and CEO on Sept. 1, 2023.
Tate joined Cal Wellness in 2016 as vice president of public affairs and built the foundation’s first integrated public affairs department, a multidisciplinary team responsible for communications, community relations and public policy activities. Since then, Tate has led the expansion of the foundation’s digital communications infrastructure; advocacy efforts to advance access to healthcare, immigrant rights, gun violence prevention and racial justice; and organization-wide learning and innovation capacity. He played a key role in launching the foundation’s inaugural Advancing Wellness Poll, developing the Advance and Defend integrated public affairs and grantmaking campaign, and hosting Cal Wellness 25th anniversary events across the state.
Prior to his time at Cal Wellness, Tate served for ten years as a senior leader at Hopelab, the health-focused nonprofit organization of the Omidyar Group and a pioneer in digital health research and development. He was Hopelab’s first director of communications and marketing and advanced to become a vice president and member of the executive leadership team. He oversaw all public relations, media outreach and product marketing, including Hopelab’s participation in the launch of the federal Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation at the White House, where President Barack Obama featured HopeLab and its products as exemplars of social innovation.
Before working in philanthropy, Tate was a director of corporate communications for the multinational biotechnology company Chiron Corporation, through its acquisition by Novartis AG. He managed communications and media relations related to Chiron’s biopharmaceuticals business, working closely with company executives, product marketing teams, investor and government relations personnel, research scientists and patient advocates. He began his career in communications as an editor and journalist and held editorial positions at the national newsmagazine The Advocate, Citysearch.com, and the Los Angeles lifestyle magazine Buzz. He also was an assistant director of undergraduate admissions at the University of Southern California.
An active leader in the state, Tate is currently on the board of the Stupski Foundation. He has served as board chair of Northern California Grantmakers and OUTWORDS . As a volunteer and board member for the Bay Area Surgical Mission, he participates in the organization’s trips providing free medical care in remote communities in the Philippines challenged by poverty and limited access to health services. Tate earned his bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Southern California, where he was a Deans Scholar and winner of USC’s Edward W. Moses Writing Competition. Tate has lived and worked in California since 1991 and is based in the Cal Wellness Oakland office.
rtate [at] calwellness.org
Follow Richard on Twitter: @taterichard