10-05-2025
1988 Bemidji grad Marc Baer to lead Hazelden Betty Ford clinical operations
May 10—Marc Baer says growing up in Bemidji prepared him for a career of service, and he will take those experiences into his new job as chief operating officer of the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation.
Baer, a 1988 graduate of Bemidji High School, will oversee Hazelden Betty Ford's clinical operations and join the executive leadership team for the nation's largest and oldest nonprofit organization dedicated to substance use disorders, mental health and recovery.
"One of the many things I am grateful for is the opportunity I had to participate in and try out many different activities while growing up in Bemidji," Baer said. "That instilled in me a desire to really contribute to and give back to the community in a variety of different ways. That's because of the amazing experiences that I had growing up right there and doing all of the different things I had the chance to do."
Those things included sports (swimming, cross country and tennis), band (wind ensemble, jazz, marching and pep bands), the student newspaper, theater, and Key Club. He was also chosen by the American Legion to attend Boys State in St. Paul and Boys Nation in Washington, D.C.
He also worked at Bemidji's Dairy Queen as a teenager, about the time the DQ Blizzard was introduced.
Baer met his wife, Elizabeth, when they were undergraduate students at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn. Marc earned a degree in psychology, then went on to law school at the University of Minnesota. He was a student attorney in the Hennepin County Attorney's office, working in the mental health division on cases involving people with substance abuse issues.
"That was really the first time when I had the opportunity to marry my interest in psychology and law," Baer said.
Baer entered private practice in the south metro, where he was able to specialize in representing people in the mental health and chemical dependency commitment process.
"I just absolutely loved that part of my work," he said, "You could see the impact of trying to have an immediate effect on helping people who needed significant assistance at a point in their life where they were in a very difficult spot. So I was focused on health and healing, and getting people to the right place where they could meaningfully change their lives."
He enjoyed that work so much that after practicing law for several years, "I just really felt like I needed to jump into health care. I love trying new things. I love jumping in and learning."
Baer has spent the last 25 years in leadership roles in the health care industry. He most recently served as an officer and corporate vice president of enterprise partnerships at Centene Corporation. Before that, he was an officer at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota working in population health, pharmacy, health and wellness, clinical product innovation and provider operations.
He also held leadership roles in the health care division of Target Corporation, where he led its pharmacy managed care network and its clinic and optical divisions, and spent several years at UnitedHealth Group.
"For me, coming to Hazelden now, which was a very unexpected opportunity to do this, is like a career serendipity moment," Baer said. "It has brought me to an amazing place that's at the forefront of really trying to change lives. I'm still pinching myself and trying to put my head around how fortunate and honored I am to just even be in this place."
Hazelden Betty Ford celebrated its 75th anniversary last year, and in his new role, Baer hopes to help shape the organization's next 75 years.
"It is the preeminent provider of care in this space," he said. "It's the oldest and largest nonprofit dedicated to addiction and mental health. It's really considered the gold standard of care in the industry. People may not realize we also have a graduate school, we have a center for research, we have a publishing arm. We are incredibly well-positioned to really make huge impacts in the lives of those who need that help and who are affected by addiction and alcohol and other drugs."
