Gopal Khanna was appointed Minnesota's first Chief information officer (CIO) by Governor Tim Pawlenty on August 15, 2005, and reappointed January 2, 2007. Announcing that Khanna would be leaving his post effective December 15, 2010, Governor Pawlenty said that Khanna "is a nationally recognized visionary with a tireless commitment and passion for good government. Gopal has led our efforts to manage information technology as an enterprise program and leveraged public-private partnerships to make government more efficient, effective, and citizen-centric". Prior to his departure, Khanna served as the Lead Co-Chair of the 19 member Minnesota Commission on Service Innovation (CSI), created through a bi-partisan legislation authored by State Senator (D) Terri Bonoff and State Representative (R) Keith Downey, with the charter to submit to the Minnesota legislature recommendations on "a strategic plan to reengineer the delivery of state and local government services, including the realignment of service delivery by region and proximity, the use of new technologies, shared facilities, centralized information technologies, and other means of improving efficiency.". Additionally, Khanna served as a member of Health Information Technology (HIT) Policy & Standards Committees’ Enrollment Workgroup, chaired by President Obama’s Chief Technology Officer at The White House, which was tasked to develop a set of standards to facilitate enrollment in federal and state health and human services programs.
Prior to assuming his position in the Governor's Cabinet, Khanna served in the administration of President George W. Bush from June 2002 through August 2005, where he held several senior policy positions including CIO and CFO of the Peace Corps and CFO of the EOP/Office of Administration.
Read more about Gopal Khanna: Awards and Recognition, Industry Leadership, Minnesota State CIO, U.S. Peace Corps, Civic and Community Engagement, Early Years and Education, Talks and Interviews