Ronald Allen Williams (born 1949) is an American Businessman, Entrepreneur and management consultant, 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 (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.
Business leadership
Williams serves on the board of directors of
American Express
American Express Company (Amex) is an American multinational corporation specialized in payment card services headquartered at 200 Vesey Street in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. The company was found ...
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. 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's annual meeting in
Davos
, neighboring_municipalities= Arosa, Bergün/Bravuogn, Klosters-Serneus, Langwies, S-chanf, Susch
, twintowns =
}
Davos (, ; or ; rm, ; archaic it, Tavate) is an Alpine resort town and a municipality in the Prättigau/Davos R ...
,
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
. 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
Council for Affordable Quality Healthcare, Inc. (CAQH)is a non-profit organization incorporated in California as a mutual benefit corporation. It was first incorporated under the name Coalition for Affordable, Quality Healthcare, Inc., and then re ...
(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
McKinsey & Company is a global management consulting firm founded in 1926 by University of Chicago professor James O. McKinsey, that offers professional services to corporations, governments, and other organizations. McKinsey is the oldest and ...
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
Fortune may refer to:
General
* Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck
* Luck
* Wealth
* Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling
* Fortune, in a fortune cookie
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* ''The Fortune'' (1931 film) ...
'' 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
The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States corporations by total revenue for their respective fiscal years. The list includes publicly held companies, along w ...
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
Earnings per share (EPS) is the monetary value of earnings per outstanding share of common stock for a company. It is a key measure of corporate profitability and is commonly used to price stocks.
In the United States, the Financial Accounting ...
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 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
An op-ed, short for "opposite the editorial page", is a written prose piece, typically published by a North-American newspaper or magazine, which expresses the opinion of an author usually not affiliated with the publication's editorial board. O ...
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
The President's Management Advisory Board is or was a council of 17 corporate executives from leading American companies. Its purpose was to provide the administration of the executive branch advice and recommendations on effective strategies for ...
, 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. 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 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
An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to short ...
), 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
Control Data Corporation (CDC) was a mainframe and supercomputer firm. CDC was one of the nine major United States computer companies through most of the 1960s; the others were IBM, Burroughs Corporation, DEC, NCR, General Electric, Honeywel ...
Williams continues to appear in the news media. During his career, Williams has received media recognition and other awards including:
* '' Modern Healthcare'' magazine's "100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare 2009"
* '' Black Enterprise'' magazine's "100 Most Powerful Executives in Corporate America, 2009"
* ''
Institutional Investor
An institutional investor is an entity which pools money to purchase securities, real property, and other investment assets or originate loans. Institutional investors include commercial banks, central banks, credit unions, government-linked co ...
'' magazine's 2009 "America's Best CEOs Health Care Managed Care category"