Jos Baeten is General Director of the Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI), the national research centre for mathematics and computer science in the Netherlands. Baeten obtained a PhD in mathematics in 1985. Since 1991, he has been affiliated with the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) as Professor of Theoretical Computer Science, and since 2010 as Professor of Systems Engineering. He started on 1 October 2011 as General Director of CWI.

Baeten is well-known as a researcher in concurrency theory and formal methods, in particular in process algebra. He is author of influential text books in process algebra. Baeten has wide experience in contract research and valorization, and in management. He was twice Dean and twice Vice-Dean of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science of the TU/e. He is scientific director of the IPA research school, chairs the steering committee of the CONCUR conferences, and was scientific director of the Stan Ackermans Institute. When Jos Baeten started at CWI, Peter van Laarhoven (Chairman of the CWI Board) said: "Baeten is a powerful director, caring for people in an organization".