Frances Padilla has been a strong, unwavering advocate for families and communities in Connecticut for many years.  She is a highly respected advocate for children, families and low-and moderate-income people in Connecticut, and for more than three decades, has been on the frontline of some of the state’s most important achievements in philanthropy and health public policy.

Before assuming her current role as President of the Universal Health Care Foundation, Padilla served for eight years as Vice President for Program and Policy and as Executive Vice President. She has strengthened the organization’s standing as one of the state’s most effective and powerful advocacy organizations for consumers and patients. Padilla created the Foundation’s policy development program and stakeholder input process, which served as the underpinnings for the landmark SustiNet legislation passed in 2009 and 2011.

Padilla serves on the boards of some of the most influential organizations dedicated to the improvement of health care.  She is a member of the Board of Directors and serves on the Executive Committee of Qualidigm, the Board and Executive Committee of Planned Parenthood of Southern New England, and chairs the Government Relations and Policy Committee of the Connecticut Council for Philanthropy.

Padilla was recently re-appointed by the Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives to the Governor’s Health Care Cabinet to help formulate a state strategy for alleviating the spending burden on Connecticut families, businesses and government created by the high cost of health care in the state. She was also appointed by the Lieutenant Governor to the Connecticut Healthcare Innovation Steering Committee overseeing the implementation of a $45 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Center for Medicaid and Medicare Innovation. She is a founding Leadership Council member of the Connecticut Choosing Wisely Collaborative, a diverse, multi-stakeholder group committed to the widespread adoption of Choosing Wisely® to improve health care practice and prevent unnecessary care and costs.

Padilla graduated from Wesleyan University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and earned a Master’s in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She is a proud resident of New Haven, with a long history of community involvement, serving on the New Haven Board of Education, and on the boards of The Hospital of Saint Raphael and the Community Loan Fund of Greater New Haven. She and husband John co-founded the Progreso Latino Fund of the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, an endowment fund created to encourage Latino giving and to promote the educational, economic and social well-being of Latinos in Greater New Haven.