President Obama named Virginia's Secretary of Technology, Aneesh P. Chopra, to be the nation's first Chief Technology Officer.
The president announced the choice in his weekly radio and Internet address, adding Chopra to a small group of advisers whose aim it is to enhance and modernize the delivery of government services.
"Aneesh will promote technological innovation to help achieve our most urgent priorities -- from creating jobs and reducing health care costs to keeping our nation secure," Obama said in the radio address.
Prior to the appointment, Aneesh Chopra was Virginia’s Fourth Secretary of Technology serving Governor Tim Kaine. In this capacity, he led the Commonwealth’s strategy to effectively leverage technology in government reform, promoted Virginia’s innovation agenda, and fostered technology-related economic development with a special emphasis on entrepreneurship.
For the Governor, Secretary Chopra chaired the Solutions Committee of the IT Investment Board, the Effectiveness and Efficiency Committee of the Council on Virginia’s Future, and co-chaired the Healthcare IT Council.
Secretary Chopra was awarded the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society’s (HIMSS) 2007 State Leadership Advocacy Award, and was also recently named to Government Technology magazine’s Top 25 in their Doers, Dreamers, and Drivers issue, which recognizes the 25 individuals they believe help set the standard for using technology to improve government.
Prior to joining Governor Kaine’s cabinet, Aneesh served as Managing Director with the Advisory Board Company, a publicly-traded health care think tank serving nearly 2,500 hospitals and health systems. He led the firm’s Financial Leadership Council and the Working Council for Health Plan Executives, as well as assisted the launch of the firm’s first business intelligence software solution, Compass.
Aneesh graduated with a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1997. He graduated with a B.A. from The Johns Hopkins University in 1994.
Key Priorities:
- Use rigorous policy changes to transform the economy through tech-based innovation. Harness federal/state/local collaboration.
- Address the President’s major priorities like growing the economy, improving education, and changing the health care cost curve, through innovation platforms - game changers that make government better/cheaper/faster. The private sector needs to lead within a culture of open standards, basic research and development may be shifted to some more advanced work, and we must learn how to better crowdsource public sector innovation.
- Driving reliable, resilient, and trustworthy broadband infrastructure. The FCC should take the lead on this. Cyber security plays an important role as well, and we need to have a bug-free software development process (cyber-security is “baked in” to the software, as federal CIO Vivek Kundra says).
- Create a cultural change in participatory democracy, open government, and collaboration. We should thoughtfully incorporate the public’s thoughts at the start of the policy process rather than just at the end (”for comment”) to harness the brainpower of the American people. Every main Cabinet agency should create on signature program in this area within one year, and focus on top policy priorities. Finally, the CTO, CIO, and the GSA will create an “innovation sandbox” that is a set of products on a menu that agencies can “order up” for use.
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