Piyush \"Bobby\" Jindal
55th Governor of Louisiana
Assumed office
January 14, 2008
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Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Louisiana\'s 1st district
In office
January 3, 2005 – January 14, 2008
Personal details
Born June 10, 1971 (age 40)
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Political party Republican
Spouse(s) Supriya Jolly
Children Selia Elizabeth
Shaan Robert
Slade Ryan
Residence Governor\'s Mansion
Alma mater
Brown University
New College, Oxford
Profession Management consultant
Religion Roman Catholic
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Piyush \"Bobby\" Jindal (born June 10, 1971) is the 55th and current Governor of Louisiana and formerly a member of the United States House of Representatives.[2] He is a member of the Republican Party.
On October 20, 2007, Jindal was elected governor of Louisiana, winning a four-way race with 54.2% of the vote. At age 36, Jindal became the youngest serving governor in the United States. However, on January 12, 2011, he became the second-youngest current U.S. governor, after Nikki Haley of South Carolina. He is the first Indian-American governor in the country[3] In 2008, Governor Jindal was ranked one of the nation\'s most popular governors with an approval rating of 77%.
Before Jindal was elected governor, he was a member of Congress for Louisiana\'s 1st congressional district, elected in 2004. Jindal was re-elected to the House in the 2006 election with 88% of the vote. He was the second Indian-American elected to Congress.
Early life and education
Jindal was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to Amar and Raj Jindal, who came to the United States as immigrants from Punjab, India, 6 months before he was born.[2]
Jindal attended Baton Rouge Magnet High School, graduating in 1988. He competed in tennis tournaments, started a computer newsletter, a retail candy business, and a mail-order software company. He spent his free time working at the concession stands during LSU football games.[7] Jindal was one of 50 students nationwide admitted to the elite PLME program at Brown University, guaranteeing him a place in medical school. He was interested in public policy. Jindal also completed a second major in biology. He graduated in 1991 at the age of 20, with honors in both majors.
Jindal was named a member of the 1992 USA Today All-USA Academic Team. He was accepted by both Harvard Medical School and Yale Law School, but studied at New College, Oxford, as a Rhodes Scholar. He received an M.Litt. degree in political science with an emphasis in health policy from the University of Oxford in 1994 for his thesis \"A needs-based approach to health care\"[7] He turned down an offer to study for a D.Phil. in politics,[9][10] instead joining the consulting firm McKinsey & Company.
Personal life and family
Jindal was raised in a Hindu household, but converted to Christianity while in high school. During his first year at Brown University, he was received into the Catholic Church. His family attends weekly Mass at Saint Aloysius Parish in Baton Rouge.[11]
Jindal\'s father, Amar Jindal, received a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering from Guru Nanak Dev University.[12][13] Jindal\'s mother, Raj (Pal) Jindal,[12] is an information technology director for the Louisiana Workforce Commission (formerly the Louisiana Department of Labor) and served as Assistant Secretary to former State Labor Secretary Garey Forster during the administration of Governor Murphy J. \"Mike\" Foster, Jr.[14] Prior to immigrating to the United States, both his parents were lecturers at an Indian engineering college.[15] According to Jindal, his mother was already four months pregnant with him when they arrived from India.[16] Jindal has a younger brother, Nikesh, who is a registered Republican and supported his brother\'s campaign for Governor.[17][18] Nikesh went to Dartmouth College and then Yale Law School, where he graduated with honors. He is now a lawyer in Washington, D. C..[13]
Jindal\'s nickname dates to his childhood identification with a sitcom character. He has said, \"Every day after school, I\'d come home and I\'d watch The Brady Bunch. And I identified with Bobby, you know? He was about my age, and \'Bobby\' stuck.\"[19] He has been known by his nickname ever since, though his legal name remains Piyush Jindal.[20]
In 1997, Jindal married Supriya Jolly who was born in New Delhi, India and moved to Baton Rouge with her parents when she was four years old.[21] They attended the same high school, but Supriya\'s family moved from Baton Rouge to New Orleans after her freshman year and they did not begin dating until later, when Jindal invited her to a Mardi Gras party after another friend had canceled. Supriya Jindal earned a bachelor\'s degree in chemical engineering and an M.B.A. degree from Tulane University.[22] She will receive a Ph.D. in marketing at Louisiana State University when she successfully completes her dissertation.[23] She created The Supriya Jindal Foundation for Louisiana\'s Children, a non-profit organization aimed at improving math and science education in grade schools.[24] They have three children: Selia Elizabeth, Shaan Robert, and Slade Ryan. Shaan was born with a congenital heart defect and had surgery as an infant. The Jindals have been outspoken advocates for children with congenital defects, particularly those without insurance. In 2006, Jindal and his wife delivered their third child at home. Barely able to call 911 before the delivery, Jindal received medical coaching by phone to deliver their eight-pound, 2.5-ounce boy.[25]
Government service
In 1993 U.S. Representative Jim McCrery (whom Jindal had worked for as a summer intern) introduced him to Governor Mike Foster.[26] In 1996 Foster appointed Jindal as Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, an agency that represented about 40 percent of the state budget and employed over 12,000 people. Jindal was the youngest ever Secretary of the DHH at 25.[27] During his tenure, Louisiana\'s Medicaid program went from bankruptcy with a $400 million deficit into three years of surpluses totaling $220 million.[28] Jindal was criticized during the 2007 campaign by the Louisiana AFL-CIO for closing some local clinics to reach that surplus.[29] Under Jindal\'s term, Louisiana nationally rose to third place in child healthcare screenings, with child immunizations rising, and introduced new and expanded services for the elderly and the disabled.[30] In 1998, Jindal was appointed executive director of the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare, a 17-member panel charged with devising plans to reform Medicare.
In 1999, at the request of the Louisiana Governor\'s Office and the Louisiana State Legislature, Jindal volunteered his time to study how Louisiana might use its $4.4 billion share of the tobacco settlement. In that same year, at only 28 years of age, Jindal was appointed to become the youngest-ever president of the University of Louisiana System, the nation\'s 16th largest system of higher education with over 80,000 students per year. In March 2001 he was nominated by President George W. Bush to be Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Planning and Evaluation. He was later unanimously confirmed by a vote of the United States Senate and began serving on July 9, 2001. In that position, he served as the principal policy advisor to the Secretary of Health and Human Services[ He resigned from that post on February 21, 2003, to return to Louisiana and run for governor
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Source:Wikipedia,
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