Dr. Rajiv Shah

Dr. Rajiv Shah:

Born
to Indian immigrant parents in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the 36 year old
Shah serves as the Under Secretary for Research, Education and
Economics (REE) and Chief Scientist at the U.S. Department of
Agriculture. With a staff of over 10,000 under him (including 2,200
federal scientists), and a budget in excess of $2.6 billion, Dr. Shah
is tasked with leading the agency's participation in President Barack
Obama's global food security initiative.

Prior to his appointment
as Under Secretary, Dr. Shah worked for the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation in a variety of roles, including Director of Agricultural
Development, which over saw the foundation's multi-billion dollar
portfolio for grant and program related investments which looked to
transform small scale farming around the world and over come hunger and
poverty. He also managed the Foundation's $1.5 billion commitment to
the Vaccine Fund, an effort that Bill and Melinda Gates called 'their
best investment'.

During his tenure as Under Secretary at the
Department of Agriculture, Dr. Shah has launched the National Institute
of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) to help fund research programs that
advance the knowledge for agriculture, the environment, human health
and well-being, and poor communities.

He has previously worked
for Al Gore's 2000 Presidential campaign as a health care policy
advisor and served as an advisor to the City of Philadelphia's Public
Health Commissioner. Early in his career, he worked on a health and
development project in rural Southern India.

He has recently been
nominated by President Obama to be the chief of the U.S. Agency for
International Development, (USAID), which would make him the highest
ranking Indian American in the U.S. Administration, pending approval by
Congress.