Meet the people poised to assume oversight of UMC

By Conor Shine

Monday, Nov. 25, 2013 | 2:50 p.m.

Some of Clark County’s most powerful executives are proposed to sit on the governing board to oversee University Medical Center.

Clark County commissioners will vote Dec. 3 on the slate of nine candidates, which includes representatives from gaming, finance, law and higher education.

Commissioners this month authorized a transfer of much of their authority overseeing the struggling public hospital to the independent governing board.

Commissioners hope the board will have more time to devote to UMC and delve deeper into the hospital’s operations, something they have been unable to do because of their other commitments.

The list of candidates was put together by a nominating committee appointed by the county that included former Gov. and U.S. Sen. Richard Bryan, Nevada Resort Association President Virginia Valentine and Las Vegas Monorail Chief Executive Officer Curtis Myles.

If approved, the members of the board will be seated in January, beginning a six-month learning process before taking on their full responsibilities over the hospital in July.

Commissioners will retain final say over the hospital’s budget and a few other select powers, leaving the board responsible for oversight of physician recruitment, developing personnel policies and setting long-term strategies and goals.

The candidates will be voted on as a slate, meaning they must be all be approved by commissioners in a single vote.

Here they are:

• Jeff Ellis is vice president and chief financial officer of Corporate HR Shared Services at MGM Resorts International. Before that, he served in chief financial positions at hospitals, managed care organizations and physician groups across the country. He is the co-chair of the Health Services Coalition, a joint management-union health care coalition.

• Elizabeth Renee Franklin is the principal and founder of Franklin & Bridges, where she consults on leadership and business issues. Franklin spent much of her career as a human resources director with the Ford Motor Co. As a senior vice president at Tower Automotive, she oversaw fully insured and self-insured health care plans for the company’s employees.

• Harry Hagerty is president and chief financial officer at Sightline Payments, a Las Vegas-based company specializing in payment technology for gaming companies. Hagerty has been involved with UMC since 2008 and is president and treasurer of the UMC Foundation.

• Laura Lopez Hobbs is the senior vice president of human resources and administration for Southwest Gas Corp., where she is responsible for developing a health care strategy for the company’s 2,200 employees. She also has been involved with charities and philanthropic organizations in Las Vegas.

• Dr. Tony Marlon is the president of Gemini Investment Holdings. He has a long history in the Las Vegas medical industry, serving as chief of cardiology at UMC for 14 years before founding Sierra Health Services in 1984. He also is the president and founder of the Tony and Renee Marlon Charitable Foundation.

• John O’Reilly is chairman and CEO of the O’Reilly Law Group. He has experience as chairman, CEO and board member for various large companies and non-profit entities. In Las Vegas, he has been a volunteer with the Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce, UNLV, the United Way and other organizations. He sits on the board of the UCLA health system.

• Eileen Raney has more than 40 years experience working and consulting for health care organizations, most recently serving as national managing principal for research and design at Deloitte and Touche LLP. She has worked with several university health systems in California to expand health care delivery and sits on the board of the Nevada Health Centers.

• Michael Saltman has a long history of real estate development in Las Vegas and is the managing general partner and president of the Vista Group. He’s previously been involved in multiple civic organizations, including the Council for a Better Nevada, the McCarran Arts Advisory Committee, Citizens for Improved Transportation and the Las Vegas Technology Advisory Committee.

• John Valery White has served as executive vice president and provost at UNLV since 2012. He is responsible for overseeing all academic-related operations at the school. Prior to that, he was dean of the Boyd School of Law for five years.