Capitol Weekly’s Top 100: Carrie Gordon

63. Carrie Gordon

The California Dental Association is unusual in that it’s involved in any number of major issues yet has a relatively low profile among the general public. The 27,000-member outfit is highly effective, and one of the reasons is Chief Strategy Officer Carrie Gordon. This year, the CDA claimed victories in “all of CDA’s priority asks” in the 2022-23 state budget, including a $50 million for dental patients with special needs, and $10 million for dental student clinical rotations. The budget also backed CDA’s plans for expanding Medi-Cal benefits. Gordon’s duties include overseeing CDA’s lobbying and political program, which has its own challenges in the era of a pandemic. A boost in Medi-Cal reimbursements keeps California, which was once 49th out the 50 states, up to the middle of the pack. We noted last year that Gordon represented CDA in the MICRA coalition – she and her CDA colleagues celebrated the April MICRA revision that headed off what promised to be a costly ballot measure fight this fall.

Updated Aug. 9, 2022