Ronald A. Williams

A veteran business leader and an expert in value creation, Ronald A. Williams is chairman and ceo of RW2 Enterprises, LLC. He is active in private equity and serves as a director on several corporate, public sector and non-profit boards. The former chairman and CEO of health insurance giant Aetna Inc., Williams currently devotes his time and energy to helping future leaders with strategy, values-based leadership, and the continued transformation of the health care industry.

Through his firm, RW2 Enterprises, Williams counsels C-Suite corporate executives on strategy and transformational leadership.  He is a member of the board of directors of American Express, The Boeing Company and Johnson & Johnson. He serves as operating advisor to private equity firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice LLC, and currently serves as chairman of portfolio companies agilon health and naviHealth. He successfully guided two CD&R portfolio company exits: Envision Healthcare and PharMeEDium Corporation.

Williams became president of Aetna in 2002 and was elected chairman and CEO in 2006. During his tenure, Aetna was named FORTUNE's most admired company in the health care: insurance and managed care category for three consecutive years. Under his leadership, Aetna sought to make a positive impact on health care in America by serving as a catalyst for change, focusing on the industry and its many participants to transform American healthcare into a more efficient system that delivers greater value.

From 2008 to June 2020, Williams served as vice-chair of the board of trustees of The Conference Board, and was elected chairman in July 2020. He is also a member of the human capital advisory board of The Conference Board as well as a trustee of the Committee for Economic Development of The Conference Board, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

He is a graduate of Roosevelt University and holds an M.S. in management from the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.