Margaret R. DeFrancisco- President/CEO

Georgia Lottery Corporation

Margaret Requa DeFrancisco was selected in December 2003 as the President/CEO of the Georgia Lottery Corporation following ten years in public service in state and county government in New York. Since coming to Georgia, her focus has been on growing the sales of a very successful lottery, whose profits have supported the HOPE Scholarship and Pre-K programs for the students of Georgia.

Her overall business goal is to maximize revenues efficiently and improve the public’s understanding of why lotteries were created. During her tenure the Georgia Lottery Corporation has achieved both record sales and profit numbers each succeeding year, with 2007-2008 fiscal year sales of $3.51 billion and profit to education of $858.3 million.

Margaret served Governor George Pataki for seven years -- first at the Department of Motor Vehicles and then as the head of the New York Lottery, the largest lottery in North America. Sales for the 2002-2003 fiscal year topped $5.4 billion as compared to $3.6 billion in 1999, the year Margaret took the helm of the Lottery. Lottery revenue for that same fiscal year was $1.829 billion -- a record for New York and North America.

In addition, Margaret launched a number of programs designed to focus consumer attention on the Lottery’s sole mission, which is to raise revenue to support education across New York State.

Holding both undergraduate and graduate degrees from the State University of New York, Margaret is a firm believer in community service. She is active on the board of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, serves as a trustee on the board of St. John Fisher College in Rochester, and on the board of visitors at the University of Georgia’s School of Public and International Affairs. While in New York she served on Governor Pataki’s Education Reform Commission and has served on the boards of American Red Cross, Leadership Rochester, and Boy Scouts. She was recently named to the list of 100 Notable Georgians by Georgia Trend magazine and was an Atlanta Woman magazine 2007 Woman of the Year honoree.

A student since age 12 of the Civil War and her family’s history, she enjoys reading about and researching both topics. She also enjoys golf and fitness exercise. She and her husband Joseph have two grown sons, Garrett and Gregory.