Now Hear This!

President Obama has named the United States' first national CTO and who it is came as somewhat of a surprise.

Aneesh Chopra wasn't even on the radar screen. Bets had been placed on big names including Microsoft's Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates, Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and Amazon.com CEO Jeffrey Bezos. Vint Cerf, Google's chief Internet evangelist and one of the designers behind the TCP/IP architecture that made the Internet possible; Ed Felten, a prominent professor of computer science and public affairs at Princeton University; and Larry Lessig, a public-minded scholar on law in the digital age and the founder of Stanford University's Center for the Internet and Society, has been among the lesser-known suspected prospects.

But Chopra, currently the Secretary of Technology for Governor Kaine of Virginia, hadn't been considered a strong possibility. Much of the speculation on who would take the post had been on hometown Silicon Valley folk or those, who like Gates and Felten, may not directly operate or live there, but partner extensively there and focus there career on the industries supported by the region's innovation. Unlike Chopra, the above list is full of people who have extensive experience designing and working in the tech heart of America.

Obama made the announcement in his weekly address on Saturday, with his office titling the April 18 address "Efficiency and Innovation." When I heard the name, my immediate response was "Who?" but a little research has shown that while I, someone focused on the design engineer community, may have never heard of Chopra, he shouldn't immediately be written off. His lack of tech experience could be a pro or a con, depending on how you look at it.

The con angle is pretty easy to see: Chopra has not spent no time "in the tech trenches," as it were. The 37-year old was not a career technologist when he took his seat as Virginia's new secretary of technology in 2005. According to his bio, prior to joining Governor Kaine’s cabinet, Chopra 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 graduated with a masters in public policy from Harvard in 1997 after graduating with a BA from The Johns Hopkins University in 1994.

So the possible negative of Chopra as national CTO is that, unlike a Gates or Cerf, he has no first-hand, hard-core knowledge of what it takes to get a products from brainstorm mode into consumers hands, nor does he have experience in managing techies or an understanding of the what makes up a good tech education. The closest he comes is acting as a part of a group of second-generation Indian Americans that started Avatar Capital, a venture fund that invested $11 million into 18 start-ups, some of which were tech focused. He even conceded that he is that not an expert on the inner workings of technical systems in this 2005 Washington Post article.

The pro side of Chopra is that, unlike a Schmidt or Bezos, he has direct experience in working the way through the mazes and tunnels of government. And while he's no technologist, he's not a bureaucrat, either. He seems to charismatically move well in tech circles and, although his career is short, he has spent much of it cutting through red tape to improve the state's government supported systems (education, for one) and career environment through technology. (See this video of his presentation to Congressional Internet Caucus conference last September where he talks about use of technology to better Virginia).

His health-care background could also prove very valuable as future technology use increases in our medical system, allowing more medical advances and hopefully bettering the failing system by bringing a less complex, data-driven direction through a correlated and open approach.

Despite the gap between Chopra and Silicon Valley, Washington, DC-based TechAmerica praised Obama's choice this morning. Calling the move a “breakthrough for technology policy,” TechAmerica President Phil Bond said: “Aneesh is singularly gifted in communicating the power and potential of technology to improve government, national security, and our economy. His energy is boundless. It is a superb choice.”

Bond noted that his role in Virginia placed him in leadership in the state with the highest concentration of tech workers and a state that added tech jobs for four consecutive years as of 2007.

Obama made specific note of job creation in his statements on the new national CTO Saturday. "In this role, 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 Chopra will work closely with US CIO Vivek Kundra, who is responsible for setting technology policy across the government, and using technology to improve security, ensure transparency, and lower costs. 

What are your thoughts on Chopra? Will his experience prove advantageous or detrimental in the new national CTO role? Will he be able to help foster innovation and technology to improve America and its ability to compete? Is he a pro or a con for tech? Share your thoughts below.