Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON, D.C. – Jeffrey Zients helped fix the Cash for Clunkers website when that program was having difficulty back in the depths of the Recession. Now he has been tapped to lead an even bigger task: heading the so-called “tech surge” that is charged with making Obamacare’s centerpiece website to operate more smoothly. Can he do the same for HealthCare.gov?
Zients, 46, and acting director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), has the unenviable position of being responsible for addressing the problems plaguing Healthcare.gov, the site where uninsured people are supposed to be able to buy insurance.
The Department of Health and Human Services, which runs the website, announced over the weekend that it would be turning to public and private sector experts to help fix problems with long delays and difficulties registering and buying 
insurance on the site.
“I want the cash registers to work, I want the checkout lines to be smooth,” said President Barack Obama in a Monday speech.
The man tasked with doing that has long experience in both the public and private sectors.
Zients helped take two companies public, working primarily in the management consulting field. His business activities made him rich. He was named one of Fortune’s 40 wealthiest Americans under 40 when he was 35. He has also served on the board of venture fund Revolution Health Partners.
But his activities haven’t been limited to the private sector. In 2009, he helped oversee efforts to fix glitches in the Cash for Clunkers website. He’s served as interim Office of Management and Budget chief, and is slated to replace Gene Sperling as head of the National Economic Council in January.
For all that experience, Zients isn’t a tech geek, his mother, Debbie Zients, tells USA Today:
Debbie Zients says her son isn’t a computer expert, “unless it’s a new talent,” but she and others said they believe Zients’ talent will be in managing the army of tech experts in and outside the government who are
trying to fix the site. In a role that likely prepared him best for his temporary role, Zients helped oversee efforts to fix the glitches in the federal Cash for Clunkers website in 2009.
Federal regulators decided to buy back old cars as a way to jump start car sales during the recession, but — as with HealthCare.gov — the system became so overwhelmed it slowed to a crawl. Car dealers couldn’t complete the lengthy online forms needed and had to front consumers the money for their cars because federal payments were backlogged. Some dealers had to log on in the middle of the night to get the site to accept applications.
Even without a technical background, Zients, through his management expertise, could be just the guy to help fix the troubled website. If anyone can.
