Virginia's Governor-Elect Tim Kaine has appointed Indian American Aneesh Chopra, 33, secretary of technology in his cabinet.
Chopra, currently a managing director of the Advisory Board Company, which provides research and analysis in business strategy and general management to the health care industry, becomes the first Indian American to serve in a cabinet-level appointment in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and also the only Indian American to currently hold a state-level cabinet position.
During the tenure of Kaine's predecessor, Mark Warner, a millionaire IT expert who gave up his private sector company to run for governor, and who now, according to reliable reports, is considering a run for the presidency, Chopra was one of his closest confidantes.
Kaine said Chopra served on Warner's Electronic Health Records Task Force, where he worked to identify strategies to lower costs, improving patient satisfaction and accelerating the adoption of patient safety measures using technology.
He also served on the Board of Medical Assistance Services, where he initiated a pilot program to use technology to lower administrative costs for Virginia's Medicaid program.
Warner, who according to sources, strongly recommended Chopra to Kaine, his erstwhile lieutenant governor, had himself appointed Chopra as one of two of Virginia's appointees to the Southern Technology Council, which he went on to co-chair.
Kaine, in announcing Chopra's appointment at a crowded press conference in Richmond, the state capital, said, Chopra's experience in the private and public sectors in controlling health care costs would be an asset in his cabinet.
"He will partner with other members of my cabinet to expand our internal use of technology to better serve our citizens and will effectively promote Virginia's business-friendly climate to technology companies."
Chopra, who serves as co-president of the DC chapter of The Indus Entrepreneurs, was born in Trenton, New Jersey, and received his BA in public health from Johns Hopkins University. He earned his MA, also in public policy, from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.
