Gail Watts

Gail Watts is director of human resources for The California Wellness Foundation. Working with the president and CEO, she oversees all human resources and talent management functions. This includes developing and administering employees’ compensation and benefit plans, policies and procedures. She is also responsible for driving professional development, performance management and development of programs that support the Foundation’s human resources’ infrastructure.

She joined the Foundation in 2015 after serving as director of human resources for St. Vincent Medical Center for eight years. Previously, she held positions as vice president of organization effectiveness for Health Net and director of human resources for Wellpoint Health Networks/Blue Cross. From 1995 to 1997, she was instrumental in the Wellpoint conversion that resulted in the creation of both the California Healthcare Foundation and The California Endowment. In her position at Wellpoint, she was involved in the selection process of the first boards of directors for both foundations. She also served as the initial director of human resources for these organizations.

Watts holds a bachelor’s degree in human resources from The University of Kansas, as well as certifications in organization development from the Linkage, Inc. and leadership development from the NTL Institute for Applied Behavioral Science. She has also completed the Managing Motivation and Performance Improvement training offered by the Hay McBer Group.