Thorne named head of state health insurance program

Monday, June 11, 2001 | 10:12 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Forrest (Woody) Thorne, deputy director of the state Department of Taxation since 1994, has been named to head the program that provides health insurance for the 56,000 state workers and their dependents.

Thorne, who has worked for state government for 11 years, will take over the $100,000-a-year job June 18.

The board of directors of the Public Employees Benefits Program offered Thorne the job Friday and later that afternoon he accepted. Last month the board had selected Steve Ashley of Kansas for the post, but he turned it down.

There have been two interim directors of the agency since the resignation of Jan Marie Reed earlier this year.

Thorne, 53, served two years as a deputy state budget director and was risk manager for the state for two years. In that job, he was associated with the health insurance program.

Before that he ran the health insurance program for a trade association in New Jersey for 15 years. Prior to that he served as an underwriter for a private company.

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