Robert C. Gross

President and Chief Executive Officer
Blue Healthcare Bank

Over the past twenty-five years, Robert (Bob) Gross has served as General Counsel to two major financial services companies and subsequently became President and Executive Board Chair of one those companies, First Interstate Bank of Utah N.A.  Bob was later appointed in 1996, by then Utah Governor Michael O. Leavitt, to oversee the formation of Utah's Department of Workforce Services (DWS) as its founding Executive Director. Under his leadership, Utah's DWS became widely recognized as one of the leading and most progressive state agencies in the United States.   During his tenure with the State of Utah, Bob served additionally as Governor Leavitt's Chief of Staff and was also elected by his colleagues from the states and territories as the President of the National Association of State Workforce Agencies.

After he left state government in 2002, Bob formed Strategic Impact LLC, a full service government affairs and management consulting firm based in Salt Lake City and Washington DC, representing organizations interacting with local, state, and the federal government policy makers and elected officials.  In late 2003, Bob took a leave of absence, at the request of the White House, to serve as the Senior Advisor to the Iraqi Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs and work directly with Coalition Provisional Authority Administrator Ambassador L. Paul Bremer.  In that assignment, he worked and lived continuously in Baghdad's Green Zone from January until the transition of sovereignty in June, 2004, when he returned to the United States.

As a lawyer, Bob has worked extensively in corporate executive and board governance matters and established a reputation as one of Utah's premier financial services attorneys, widely experienced in state and federal compliance and regulatory matters; depository, consumer credit, complex commercial and real estate transactions; asset recovery; and all phases of corporate governance.  As a public and private sector chief executive officer, Bob has led successfully organizations and teams of people striving for continuous organizational improvement and excellence.  As a governmental affairs and management consultant, Bob has represented clients effectively and skillfully in affecting good public policy at all levels of local, state, and the federal government in both legislative and executive branches.  He has also testified extensively before regulatory commissions and panels and Congressional and legislative committees and subcommittees.

Bob has been a member of the Utah State Bar since 1979 and has served as Chair of the Banking and Finance Law Section.  He is currently on the boards of First Electronic Bank, the Employers Services Assurance Corporation and has previously served on the boards of the Utah Bankers Association, Utah Opera Company, Utah State Job Training Coordination Council, the University of Utah Crimson Club, the Economic Development Corporation of Utah, the Salt Lake United Way, the Utah Partners in Education, the national Unemployment Insurance Reform Committee, the American Bankers Association Government Relations Committee, the National Alliance of Business Board of Western Trustees, and the Pacific Coast Banking School.  He is also a former member of the Board of Governors of the Salt Lake Area Chamber of Commerce.

Bob is a frequent public speaker on the topics of organizational leadership and management, commercial law, workforce services and has served on the faculty of the National Governors Association Workforce Policy Academy and as a lecturer in the graduate business schools at the University of Utah and Westminster College.

He has a Juris Doctorate from the Ohio Northern University Pettit College of Law and an undergraduate bachelor of science from Utah State University.  He is also an honors graduate of the Pacific Coast Banking School at the University of Washington.