Biography
Board of Directors Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals
Ramón Baez joined the boards of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals in April 2016. He serves as chair of the Community Health Committee and is a member of the Governance, Accountability, and Nominating Committee.
Baez retired from Hewlett Packard Enterprise in October 2016 where he served as the senior vice president, customer evangelist, and advocate for the organization. In this role, Baez championed customer centricity. He advised customers and partners through frank peer-to-peer discussions on how to make and implement decisions about emerging digital technologies in their operations, products, and business models, which will have a positive impact in the marketplace.
He also served as the chairman for HPE’s Global Diversity & Inclusion Board, an entity that serves as the strategic governing body for global diversity and inclusion at HPE. Baez was previously senior vice president and global chief information officer for the Hewlett-Packard Company, which separated into HPE and HP, Inc. in 2015.
Prior to HP, Baez was vice president of information technology services and chief information officer of Kimberly-Clark Corp. He also served in chief information officer roles for Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. and Honeywell’s Automation and Control Solutions group. Baez began his career at Northrop Grumman, where he spent 25 years and finished as chief information officer for its electronic systems sensor sector.
Baez’s vast career experience spans various global Fortune 100 companies in the manufacturing, packaged goods, aerospace, and defense industries, and products and services for the scientific community.
Baez holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of La Verne in California.
Q&A
What inspires you in your work?
I have been fortunate to work in multiple industries and multiple leadership roles over the past four decades. What always inspired me to perform well in my roles was that I was involved in projects or programs that were bigger than myself and it always took a team to be successful that required excellent leadership.
What’s your first health-related memory?
I was 11 years old and I was rushed to the emergency room to deal with a pain in my lower right side and it was determined that I had appendicitis. I remember when the doctor was explaining to my parents what was happening to me and he said I needed an operation, my mother was crying and she was very sad. Even though my mother was very concerned, I had an overwhelming comfort and confidence in the doctor and the nurses in the room. I am very happy to say, I had a very successful appendectomy.
What’s the most important quality for doctors to have?
I believe after aptitude and an excellent medical education, I would rate “caring” as the most important quality. I find when I have a doctor that is qualified and knowledgeable it is extremely important that he cares about me to ensure I get the best medical attention that is available to solve my medical issue.
What would people be surprised to learn about you?
My family owned several hair salons in Southern California and I had the opportunity to work in them as a licensed barber as a young adult. I really believed this opportunity gave me the ability to be able to communicate well with a business leader and the person that worked on the shop floor. This ability has paid dividends over my 4 decades in business and board work.
