VP - Public Affairs
State Farm Insurance

Mike Fernandez is vice president of public affairs at State Farm, responsible for driving the company's public relations and philanthropic efforts. Fernandez works closely with State Farm's executive leadership to manage the corporate reputation of the largest auto and home insurer in North America.

Prior to joining State Farm in 2006, Fernandez led the public relations function at three other Fortune 500 companies. He served as senior vice president and chief communications officer for ConAgra Foods, where he also provided leadership for the company's marketing services and sponsorship units. Before that, he served as senior vice president of public affairs at CIGNA, where he also led government affairs and investor relations; and before that he served as vice president of public relations at US WEST, where he also led the creative services function.

Before leading the public relations function at these companies, Fernandez worked as a public relations and marketing executive at Eastman Kodak Company and, on Capitol Hill, was a researcher with the U.S. House of Representatives' House Democratic Study Group and a press secretary to former U.S. Senator Ernest F. "Fritz" Hollings.

Fernandez and his teams have earned top honors from the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) and the American Marketing Association among others. In 1999, he was named "PR All Star" for strategic communications by Inside PR.

Throughout his career, Fernandez has served on various state and national boards associated with education, economic development and the Latino community. He currently co-chairs the Institute for Public Relations and serves on the board of the Arthur W. Page Society. He also serves on the boards of the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute. While living in Rochester, New York, he was elected to its school board and its city council.

Fernandez is a double graduate of Georgetown University, where he earned a B.A. with honors in government and a M.S. in accounting.