Ronald Allen Williams (born 1949) is an American Businessman,
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...
and
management consultant
Management consulting is the practice of providing consulting services to organizations to improve their performance or in any way to assist in achieving organizational objectives. Organizations may draw upon the services of management consultants ...
, and board director on corporate, public sector and non-profit boards. Williams is the author of ''Learning to Lead: The Journey to Leading Yourself, Leading Others, and Leading an Organization,'' which appeared on The Wall Street Journal's best seller list. He is founder, chairman and CEO of RW2 Enterprises, LLC. He is the former chairman, president and
chief executive officer
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...
(CEO) of
Aetna Inc.
Aetna Inc. () is an American managed health care company that sells traditional and consumer directed health care insurance and related services, such as medical, pharmaceutical, dental, behavioral health, long-term care, and disability plans ...
, a diversified benefits company. Aetna is now part of CVS Health.
Following his retirement from Aetna, Williams formed RW2 Enterprises, LLC. He coaches and consults with senior corporate executives of Fortune 100 companies on transformational leadership strategy, board preparedness and business strategy. He works on issues such as value creation in health care in the US, such as a value-based approach to health care, where physicians, health care providers, insurers, employers and consumers are working together to achieve more affordable, better quality health care.
Boeing
The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and p ...
and
Johnson and Johnson
Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is an American multinational corporation founded in 1886 that develops medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and consumer packaged goods. Its common stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the company i ...
. He is also an operating advisor to the private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R), where he has successfully guided three CD&R portfolio company exits: naviHealth, PharMEDium and Envision Healthcare. He is chairman of the board of agilon health, a company partnering with physicians to create next generation value-based care delivery. agilon health was launched in 2016.
Williams is chairman of
The Conference Board
The Conference Board, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit business membership and research group organization. It counts over 1,000 public and private corporations and other organizations as members, encompassing 60 countries. The Conference Board co ...
. Williams led and co-sponsored TCB's efforts to create the millennial leader report "Divergent Views/Common Ground, the leadership perspective of C-Suite Executives and Millennial Leaders." This report encourages C-Suite executives to better navigate millennial leader talent development and coaching. Williams participates with the Committee for Economic Development (CED), and co-chaired two of CED's studies: Adjusting the Prescription and Modernizing Medicare.
In January 2010, he co-chaired the
World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...
's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. He also previously served as vice chairman of
The Business Council
The Business Council is an organization of business leaders headquartered in Washington, D.C.Health Leadership Council, and chairman of the Council for Affordable Quality Healthcare (CAQH). He also was an advisor to ''The Wall Street Journal'' CEO Council and a former member of the GE Healthymagination Advisory Committee. In 2023, he began as a member of the McKinsey & Company External Advisory Group.
Aetna leadership
Williams served as both chairman and CEO of Aetna until November 2010 and as chairman through April 2011. He also served as chairman of the Aetna Foundation from 2006 to April 2011. During his tenure, Aetna was named '' Fortune'' magazine's most admired Company in the Health Care: Insurance and Managed Care category for three consecutive years. Aetna 2011 revenues were $34 billion and the firm ranked 77th on the Fortune 100 list (the year he stepped down as chairman).
Joining Aetna in 2001, Williams focused on company's strategy, culture, operating performance and financial results. In 2002, Williams was named president and joined Aetna's board. He was named CEO in February 2006 and chairman of the board in October 2006. In 2001, Aetna reported a net loss from continuing operations of $292 million and earnings per share loss from continuing operations of $0.46. In 2011, full-year operating earnings were $2.0 billion with operating earnings per share of $5.17 producing a 12.3 percent operating EPS
CAGR
Compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is a business and investing specific term for the geometric progression ratio that provides a constant rate of return over the time period. CAGR is not an accounting term, but it is often used to describe some ele ...
over the last five years.
Under his leadership, Aetna worked to catalyze change, focusing the industry, public policy leaders, physicians and employers on issues aimed at increasing access and affordability, and transforming American health care into a more efficient system that delivers greater value to all Americans. He has advocated for specific reforms in broadcast media interviews and has authored or co-authored op-ed articles in ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'', ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'', the ''
Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Ni ...
'' and the ''
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'' (popularly known as the ''Seattle P-I'', the ''Post-Intelligencer'', or simply the ''P-I'') is an online newspaper and former print newspaper based in Seattle, Washington, United States.
The newspaper was f ...
''.
Public service
Williams chairs the Health Systems Initiative at MIT Sloan, which conducts research and convenes leaders to drive action on the most pressing issues in healthcare. He also serves on MIT's North America Executive Board.
Williams is a board member o NAF a national network of education, business, and community leaders who work together to ensure high school students are college, career, and future ready. NAF partners with high-need communities to build NAF academies focused on growing industries such as health care, IT, finance, hospitality and tourism.
In March 2011, Williams was appointed to the President's Management Advisory Board, which was assembled by
U.S. President
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
. He served in that capacity until 2017. He serves on the board of the National Academy Foundation (NAF), the Peterson Center on Healthcare board of advisors, the
Peterson Institute for International Economics
The Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE), known until 2006 as the Institute for International Economics (IIE), is an American think tank based in Washington, D.C. It was founded by C. Fred Bergsten in 1981 and has been led by ...
and the RAND Health board of advisors.
In 2013 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, an independent, multidisciplinary policy research center, and became a trustee of the Committee for Economic Development, a non-profit, non-partisan, business-led public policy organization.
Early business career
Prior to joining Aetna, Williams served as group president, and president of WellPoint (now Anthem), having joined WellPoint's predecessor firm, Blue Cross of California, in 1987. Previously, he was co-founder of Visa Health Corp. and group marketing executive of Control Data Corporation.
Education
Williams holds a
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...
in
psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between ...
from
Roosevelt University
Roosevelt University is a private university with campuses in Chicago and Schaumburg, Illinois. Founded in 1945, the university was named in honor of United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.
The unive ...
and a
Master of Business Administration
A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accoun ...
from the
MIT Sloan School of Management
The MIT Sloan School of Management (MIT Sloan or Sloan) is the business school of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
MIT Sloan offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree programs, ...
.
External activities, awards and recognition
Williams continues to appear in the news media. During his career, Williams has received media recognition and other awards including:
* ''
Modern Healthcare
''Modern Healthcare'' is a twice monthly business publication targeting executives in the healthcare industry. It is an independent American publisher of national and regional healthcare news.
The publication is also known for providing statistic ...
'' magazine's "100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare 2009"
* ''
Black Enterprise
''Black Enterprise'' is a black-owned multimedia company. Since the 1970s, its flagship product ''Black Enterprise'' magazine has covered African-American businesses with a readership of 3.7 million. The company was founded in 1970 by Earl ...
'' magazine's "100 Most Powerful Executives in Corporate America, 2009"
* '' Institutional Investor'' magazine's 2009 "America's Best CEOs Health Care Managed Care category"