John Baackes has been in Managed Health Care for 50 years. He retired as CEO of L. A. Care Health Plan in 2015 after ten years as head of the largest Medi-Cal Managed Care Plan in California with 2.6 million members.  

During his tenure the plan added 900,000 lives and expanded its role in the community through community investments in Medical School scholarships and grants to bring new primary care doctors into the Los Angeles County Safety net of providers. He also expanded the number of Community Resource enters from four to fourteen through an innovative partnership with Blue Shield of California.

Before joining L. A. Care, Mr. Baackes served as President of AmeriHealth Caritas VIP PLans, overseeing the Medicare Advantage business unit. He had previously been CEO of Senior Whole Health for seven years, based in Cambridge Massachusetts. 

Mr. Baackes started his career at Community Health Plan in Albany, New York, starting as a sales representative for the first HMO serving the capital of New York and became CEO in 1988. He merged CHP with Kaiser Permanente in 1996. Subsequently he served as Senior Vice President for Group Health Incorporated until his departure for Senior Whole Health in 2005.  

Mr. Baackes served on the Board of America's Health Insurance Plan (AHIP) for seven years as well as the California Health Plan Association and Local Health Plans of California. 

Currently Mr. Baackes provides advisory services to select clients. He is also Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science (CDU), the Chairman of the Board for Urban Voice Project (UVP), Trustee for Project Angel Food (PAF) Board member for the Mayor's Fund of Los Angeles and a Board member of Catalina Island Health.

Mr. Baackes resides in Los Angeles. 

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