Margaret Cushing Whitman (born August 4, 1956) is an American business executive, diplomat and politician. She served as the United States ambassador to Kenya from July 2022 to November 2024 under President Joe Biden. Until 2025, when she stated she was a registered Democrat, Whitman was a member of the Republican Party. She ran for governor of California in the 2010 California gubernatorial election and lost to former California Governor Jerry Brown, 54% to 41%. The fifth-wealthiest woman in California with a net worth of $1.3 billion in 2010, she spent, at the time, more of her own money on a single election than any other political candidate in American history. The $144 million of her own fortune she used for the race (the campaign spent $178.5 million in total, including money from donors) was surpassed only by Michael Bloomberg in the 2020 presidential election. Whitman was a senior presidential campaign official for Republican Mitt Romney in both 2008 and 2012, although she supported Democrats Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden in the 2016 presidential election and the 2020 presidential election, respectively. In 2008, Whitman was cited by The New York Times as among the women most likely to become the first female president of the United States. In 2014, Whitman was named 20th in Forbes List of the 100 Most Powerful Women in the World. Whitman has held various business executive positions at the Walt Disney Company, eBay, Hewlett Packard and Quibi.