Off the Record: Career Conversation with Kate Johansen ’09
Director of Government Relations at Medica (prior experience as a senior health policy advisor to the Minnesota Department of Human Services and life-long public servant)
Thursday, November 3rd 4:30-5:30pm in Room 229
RSVP to careers@mitchellhamline.edu
Kate Johansen is the Director of Government Relations at Medica. Prior to joining Medica, Kate served as a senior health policy advisor to the Minnesota Department of Human Services. Before that, she led health policy at the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, where she represented 2200 businesses and became a leading voice and advocate on ACA implementation issues, particularly the creation of health insurance exchanges. Kate has given dozens of presentations to thousands of people on health care and reform, provided policy analysis to organizations such as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and been quoted in every major Minnesota news publication and The New York Times.
A life-long public servant, Kate has served in every branch of government, two state legislatures, and on Capitol Hill. An attorney by trade, she clerked for the Minnesota Supreme Court after graduating summa cum laude from William Mitchell College of Law in 2009, where she served as Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review. Kate is also a summa cum laude graduate of Gustavus Adolphus College and studied in Stanford Graduate School of Business’s MBA program. She is a 2003 Truman Scholar and in 2013 was named one of Minnesota’s “40 Under 40” business leaders by the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal.
Three lessons Kate has learned over the course of her career:
- “You can use a law degree to do just about anything better.”
- “Character is the coin of the realm in any profession.”
- “Know your value proposition. Then own it.
To learn more about Kate’s story, attend her Off the Record career conversation session on Thursday, November 3rd (4:30-5:30pm) in Room 229. All students are welcome to attend, however, space is limited so reserve your spot now – RSVP by emailing careers@mitchellhamline.edu. Hybrid J.D. Program students that are not able to attend in person will have the option to call in.