Richard Tate

Richard Tate is vice president of public affairs at The California Wellness Foundation, where he leads a multidisciplinary team responsible for the Foundation’s communications, community relations and public policy activities. In his role, Tate develops and implements strategies to further the reach and impact of Cal Wellness and its Advancing Wellness grantmaking by engaging audiences in addressing the issues central to the Foundation’s mission. He reports directly to the president and CEO and is a member of the senior management team.

Tate joined Cal Wellness in 2016 after ten years with 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 the successful launch of HopeLab’s groundbreaking Re-Mission video game for teens and young adults with cancer and 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 Zamzee product as an exemplar of social innovation.

Prior to joining HopeLab, 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.

He is a board member of the Bay Area Surgical Mission and participates in the organization’s work 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 San Francisco office.