Ramon Gardenhire, serves as the Director of Government Relations (South Region) for ViiV Healthcare. He works on federal and state healthcare legislation and policies to improve access to care, treatment and, prevention for people living with and vulnerable to HIV.

Before joining ViiV, Ramon served as a member of Illinois Governor JB Pritzker’s senior staff as the Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy (Policy Director). In that capacity, he served as one of the Governor’s top advisors. He assisted in developing key policies, coordinated the administration’s policy work with other Governor’s Office departments and over 30 cabinet level state agencies. And facilitated the administrations legislative tracking and review process making more than 4000 bill action recommendations. During his tenure in the Governor’s Office Ramon helped Illinois enact some of Illinois’ most sweeping and consequential policy and legislative achievements in decades, including enactment of a $3.5 billion renewed Hospital Assessment Program, launching the state’s Getting to Zero plan to end HIV, cannabis legalization, first in the nation expansion of Medicaid for undocumented seniors (twice, first 65 then 55), Hospital Transformation program that will be directing $150 million annually to community-driven solutions to address healthcare inequities in Black, brown and rural communities, expanding Medicaid to cover gender-affirming surgery for transgender individuals, criminal justice reform and assistance with implementation of COVID-19 testing and treatment programs.

Before joining the Pritzker, administration Ramon served as the Vice President of Policy and Advocacy for the AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC), overseeing AFC’s advocacy and policy work at the federal, state, and local levels. Gardenhire previously served as AFC’s Director of Government Relations, where he worked to expanded Medicaid coverage for half a million Illinoisans and helped enact comprehensive sexual health education for Illinois students.

He received his Juris Doctorate from Wayne State University Law School and his bachelor’s degree from Slippery Rock University.

Ramon lives in Chicago with his husband (Cecil) and dog (Olive – Shui Tzu/Poodle mix), is an advent tennis fan and reader, and watches “Murder She Wrote” nightly.