SACRAMENTO – California State Treasurer John Chiang has appointed Ruth Holton-Hodson, a three-decade, consumer advocate, as a deputy treasurer.

She will oversee the treasurer’s programs which provide low-cost financing for the construction of much-needed health care and educational infrastructure, such as hospitals, community clinics and private universities.

In this role, she will also advise the treasurer on how CalPERS, the nation’s second largest purchaser of health care, can best deliver high-quality, affordable health care to hundreds of thousands of state and municipal workers.

She will advise CalSavers, the state’s new retirement savings program for private sector workers, with its stakeholder outreach and engagement strategies.

“Ruth is a widely-respected thought leader among both consumer advocates and healthcare policymakers,” said Chiang. “She has spent years assisting me with health and retirement issues. Now, she will employ her expertise in a new area of responsibility as a deputy state treasurer.”

For her part, Holton-Hodson said she is eager to continue helping the treasurer on health care.

“I want to strengthen the safety net and improve access to quality, affordable care,” she said. “They are issues I have worked on much of my career and are close to my heart.”

Holton-Hodson has spent her career as a consumer advocate in government, philanthropic and nonprofit endeavors.

Prior to that, Holton-Hodson served for six years as the deputy for health and consumer policy, when Chiang was state controller.

In the private, nonprofit and philanthropic sector, Holton-Hodson worked as special projects and public policy director for almost 10 years at the California Wellness Foundation. She focused on increasing access to health care in low income communities.

She also was the advocate and then executive director for California Common Cause, where she ran two successful statewide initiative campaigns on campaign finance and ethics reforms.

Holton-Hodson began her public policy career as a lobbyist for the California Children’s Lobby.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from George Washington University and a master’s in educational administration from the University of Chicago.