President Barack Obama has chosen Aneesh Chopra as Chief Technical Officer. The choice for some has been surprising since many suspected that Obama would choose someone out of Silicon Valley. Aneesh Chopra however hails as Virginia’s Secretary of Technology.
Nevertheless, Chopra has been getting praise at his position, according to Alan Davidson, Googles
director of government relations and public policy, “As Virginia’s technology czar Aneesh has been
relentless in applying technology to make government work better for citizens — from requiring state
government agencies to make their sites more crawlable, to integrating iTunes with the state’s
educational system.” Barack Obama chose Aneesh Chopra because he hopes that Chopra will “promote technological innovation to help achieve our most urgent priorities — from creating jobs and reducing health care costs to keeping our nation secure.”
Chopra graduated with a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of
Government in 1997. He then served as Managing Director with the Advisory Board Company, a
publicly-traded health care think tank serving nearly 2,500 hospitals and health systems before he
went on to serve Virginia Governor Tim Kaine as Secretary of Technology.
On discussing his Barack Obama’s choice, Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures, says “This man is a
‘do-er,’ plain and simple. He is a visionary leader and executive who can bring people together around
a vision to get the job done. Aneesh is a passionate advocate of how technology and innovation can
positively impact the lives of millions of our citizens through improved education, health-care, helping
better protect our environment and so much more.”
