Craig Cornett

Craig Cornett is a successful and innovative leader in health care, with a long history of advancing improvements in long-term care for Californians, in public and nonprofit service. He was the CEO and president of the California Association of Health Facilities (CAHF), the state’s largest and oldest nonprofit trade association representing the long-term care sector, from 2017 until 2025. He worked with most of the key state and federal government officials and health plans on issues affecting the health and well-being of residents and patients receiving long-term care services in California. His leadership at CAHF during the COVID-19 pandemic helped save lives, as California experienced the lowest mortality rate among the elderly in the largest state in the nation.

Cornett served as the budget director and chief fiscal advisor for the California Senate, a position he held under two Senate leaders, from 2008 to 2017. He also participated in a number of initiatives to expand health care coverage and increase quality, including the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in California, the expansion of Medi-Cal and the 2010 legislation that created the health benefit exchange that became Covered California.

Prior to his service as the Senate’s finance director, Craig held a similar position for four Speakers of the California Assembly, from 2000 to 2008, and worked for the non-partisan California Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) for 17 years.

Cornett has served as a board member of The Golden 1 Credit Union, the state’s largest credit union, with more than 1.1 million members and more than $20 billion in assets. He graduated from Washington and Lee University in Virginia and holds a master’s degree in public policy from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the parent of two adult children, with his wife, Mary.