Some Health Exchange candidates come with baggage

A candidate for the top job at Nevada’s troubled health insurance exchange is the target in a lawsuit over delinquent debts.

Bruce Gilbert of Addison, Texas, has been sued by American Express Centurion Bank in Dallas County District Court for $14,896. American Express said he did not pay back a line of credit to buy “goods, wares, merchandise, services and/or cash advances,” according to the lawsuit.

The board of the Silver State Health Insurance Exchange was scheduled to interview Gilbert and two other candidates Wednesday for the executive director job.

American Express filed its lawsuit in June 2013. A non-jury trial is scheduled July 8.

Gilbert, a principal in a Texas health insurance consulting firm, could not make the interview for the $117,000-a-year job in person, so the board will interview him via Skype.

Reached via his business phone late Tuesday, Gilbert said he told the board about the lawsuit. He would not comment on the case’s specifics, except to call it a “disagreement” that has “escalated.”

“There’s a dispute there. We’re working through it,” he said. “It’s a matter of public record. I don’t disown it, I don’t walk away from it and I don’t feel badly about it. Hundreds of thousands of people get involved in litigation every day.”

Lee-Ann Easton, human resources director for the state, confirmed that Gilbert disclosed the case before hiring officials asked about it. She called the case a “personal situation he’s dealing with.”

Easton added that at the end of Wednesday’s interviews, hiring managers will ask each candidate to reveal any personal or professional issues to the board.

Gilbert was one of about 50 applicants for the job. Board members narrowed the list to four candidates to interview. One candidate, a woman from another state, dropped out after the board told her the salary was not negotiable.

Gilbert is a principal in HIX Partners, described on its website as a business that helps insurance brokers and professional and nonprofit associations build benefit plans and delivery platforms, such as private insurance exchanges.

Gilbert was previously a criminal defense attorney in Maryland. His bio also lists experience including managing regional operations for a Fortune 100 health care company, and serving as benefits administrator for Ohio, where he managed the state’s five self-funded health plans.

The other candidates include local resident James Hooban. Review-Journal columnist Norm Clarke said Hooban was engaged as of early 2013 to marry former Nevada First Lady Dawn Gibbons. A search of the Clark County recorder’s website did not turn up a marriage license between the two.

Hooban is president of Independent Nevada Doctors, which provides medical professional liability insurance for doctors across the state. Hooban also was vice president of American Re-Insurance Co., where he led a global risk management division with 40 people in underwriting and marketing.

Hooban’s LinkedIn account said he is “working on several projects in Nevada relating to insurance, health care and local charities.” He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland’s University Campus in Heidelberg, Germany, while serving in the Army.

The third candidate, David Haws of Carson City, is administrator for the information development and processing division of the state Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation. Haws oversees information technology and automated computing activities, including maintaining the agency’s telecommunications network, databases, hardware infrastructure and strategic technology projects.

Before he joined the employment department in 2003, Haws consulted and managed technology projects in the public and private sectors. In the late 1990s he was chief information officer for the state’s workmen’s comp provider, Employers Insurance Co.

Haws has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Boise State University.

The exchange’s executive director position has been open since March 14, when Jon Hager resigned from the position amid disappointing enrollment numbers and a series of technical glitches on the exchange’s Nevada Health Link website.

Steve Fisher, deputy director of the Nevada Division of Welfare and Supportive Services, is serving as interim director.

Review-Journal reporter Brian Haynes contributed to this report. Contact reporter Jennifer Robison at jrobison@reviewjournal.com. Follow @J_Robison1 on Twitter